UBK,  >,vt 
wwv  «&«*«* 

SAN  DJEGO 


"CHE  BLOSSOM  SHOP 


'  OH,    MOTHER,     .    .    .     HERE     IS    A    DEAR    BABY    BLOS 
SOM.'  '      (See  page  123.) 


THE    BLOSSOM 


A  STORY  OF 
THE    SOUTH 


BY 
ISLA  MAY  MULLINS 


ILLUSTRATED   BY 

JOHN  GOSS 


BOSTON 
COMPANY 


L.   C.   PAGE  & 
MDCCCCXIII 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
L.  C.  PAGE  &.  COMPANY 

(INCORPORATED) 
All  rights  reserved 


First  Impression,  May,  1913 


THE  COLONIAL  PRESS 
C.  H.  SIMONDS  4  CO.,  BOSTON,  U.  8.  A. 


TO  MY  FATHER   AND   MOTHER 


AND 

Ipfcia  Cobb 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  CAPE  JESSAMINES     .       .               .  i 

II.  A  GAY  CAVALCADE  ....  20 

III.  WAS  GRANDMOTHER  GREY  MEAN?  34 

IV.  UNCLE  SAM'S  ECONOMIES        .        .  45 
V.  LOVE  TURNED  AWAY       .        .        .  56 

VI.  HURRAH  FOR  THE  BLOSSOM  SHOP!  67 

VII.     FIRE!   FIRE! 83 

VIII.  HANNIE'S  WICKED  WISH         .        .  90 

IX.  A  BLOSSOM  SPARED          .        .        .  104 

X.  THE   BROKEN  -  HINGED   TRUNK     .  125 

XL  AWAY  UP  NORTH     .       .       .       .  139 

XII.     DR.  MURTON 153 

XIII.  LIVELY  VISITORS       ....  166 

XIV.  AN  ARCH  SCHEMER  .        .        .        .180 
XV.    UNFOLDINGS 197 

XVI.  LOVE  BLOSSOMS        .       .       .       .213 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

"  '  OH,      MOTHER,    .    .    .    HERE      IS      A      DEAR 

BABY  BLOSSOM  '  "  (See  page  123)  Frontispiece 

"  '  WE'LL   TURN   THE   OLD   HOUSE   INTO   A 

BLOSSOM  SHOP  ' 13 

"  USHERED  THEM  IN  WITH  STATELY  DIG 
NITY  AND  GINGERLY  TOOK  CHARGE  OF 
THE  PARROT  " l68 

"  HE    LOOKED    DOWN    HUNGRILY    INTO    HER 

EYES  "  .......        184 

"  *  OH,  OH,  CAPE  JESSAMINE!'  CRIED  THE 
CHILD,  AS  HER  GAZE  FELL  UPON  THE 
FLOWER  "  .  2OI 


THE  BLOSSOM  SHOP 


CHAPTER   I 

CAPE  JESSAMINES 


"  The  hills  untied  their  bonnets, 

The  bobolinks  begun. 

Then  I  said  softly  to  myself, 
1  That  must  have  been  the  sun.' ' 

MRS.  GREY  began  chanting  the  little 
verse  in  soft  contralto  tones  with  a 
lilting  swing  as  they  settled  themselves 
to  work  in  the  early  morning,  and  Gene 
joined  gaily  in  with  her  clear,  childish 
treble. 

"Aren't    mornings     beautiful?"     the 
child  said,  as  they  ended  the  last  word. 


The  Blossom  Shop 


"  Yes,  —  they  are,"  agreed  the  mother, 
reserving  the  suggestion  that  man  does 
not  always  think  so. 

"  Mother,  dear,"  the  child  went  on, 
with  renewed  enthusiasm,  "  the  florist 
will  say  these  are  the  very  prettiest  flowers 
we  have  sent.  They  must  be  very  big, 
for  they  smell  the  very  nicest." 

"Yes,  Gene,  they  do,"  responded  Mrs. 
Grey  absently,  as  her  deft  fingers  began 
sorting,  wrapping  and  fitting  the  cape 
jessamines  into  boxes  for  shipping. 

;<  I  believe  they  are  all  grown-ups,"  the 
child  again  went  on,  —  passing  her  hand 
lightly  with  inquiring  touch  about  the 
tableful  of  beauties,  but  never  marring 
their  delicate  perfection. 

"  I'm  so  afraid  there  isn't  a  single  baby 
here,"  she  added,  with  a  grieved  little 
voice,  "  and  hardly  a  big  girl  or  boy 


even." 


Cape  Jessamines 


Mrs.  Grey  smiled  at  the  child's  ear 
nestness,  and  looking  the  blossoms  rap 
idly  over  found  a  wee  one  which  she 
placed  in  the  small  hands. 

"Oh,  I'm  so  glad!  It  would  be  too 
bad  for  them  to  go  without  a  baby,"  said 
the  child.  And  the  little  fingers  lightly 
traced  from  beneath  each  waxy  petal 
with  satisfaction. 

"  Is  this  the  only  one,  mother?  "  she 
said  again  after  a  moment.  "  We  ought 
to  have  one  baby  for  each  box,  you 
know." 

"  So  we  ought,"  replied  Mrs.  Grey, 
and  again  her  quick  eye  ran  over  the 
flowers  till  she  found  half  a  dozen  wee 
ones  for  the  small,  eager  hands. 

"  Oh,  aren't  they  nice!  "  exclaimed  the 
child,  touching  each  with  a  tiny  finger 
and  counting  up  to  six.  "  Will  there  be 
six  boxes,  mother?  " 


The  Blossom  Shop 


"  Yes,  just  about  six  this  morning,  I 
think." 

The  small  hands  clapped  gaily.  Then 
gathering  the  flowers  up  gently  in  her 
white  apron  skirt  with  one  hand,  and 
putting  the  other  out  with  a  pretty  move 
ment  which  robbed  the  groping  of  some 
of  its  pathos,  the  child  made  her  way 
across  the  piazza  to  a  little  basin  and  put 
each  flower  carefully  in. 

"  Now,  babies,  you  must  be  good, 
get  your  dinner  and  sleep  there  till 
your  mothers  and  fathers  are  ready  to 
start." 

Back  again  she  tripped  with  scarce  a 
motion  of  the  little  guiding  hands,  and 
then  fell  to  work,  wrapping  stems  and  fit 
ting  the  flowers  into  boxes  with  far 
greater  skill  than  a  seeing  child  of 
her  age  could  have  done. 

There  was  the  same  grace  and  deftness 


Cape  Jessamines 


of  movement  in  the  child  as  in  the 
mother;  in  fact,  barring  stronger  tints 
in  the  mother's  coloring,  the  one  was 
almost  a  counterpart  of  the  other. 
There  was  with  both  the  well-shaped 
head,  softly  rounded  cheeks  and  a  cer 
tain  delightful  piquancy  of  expression 
that  indicated  few  dull  moments  for 
them  or  those  about  them.  Both  were 
lithe  and  graceful  in  figure  and  some 
what  petite.  But  the  unruly,  waving 
tendrils  that  played  about  the  mother's 
face  were  a  soft  brown  touched  with  gold, 
while  the  child's  dancing  curls  were  of 
gold  shading  oft  into  brown.  The  child's 
cheeks  were  a  delicate  pink,  while  the 
mother's  easily  flushed  with  warm,  rich 
color.  There  was  simplicity  and  dainti 
ness  in  the  dress  of  both,  and  in  the  midst 
of  glossy,  green  leaves  and  white-petalled 
beauties,  mother  and  child  fitted  into  the 


6  The  Blossom  Shop 

floral  picture  like  rare  blossoms  of  a 
larger  growth. 

"  Mother,  do  I  pack  them  nicely, 
now?  "  asked  the  child  anxiously. 

"Yes,  darling,  you  do,"  Mrs.  Grey 
returned  tenderly. 

Then  a  merry  laugh  rang  out 
from  the  child.  "  What  did  the  man 
say,  mother,  when  we  sent  the  first 
box?" 

"  Oh,"  her  mother  returned  gaily,  for 
it  was  an  old  story  they  loved  to  go  over, 
"  he  said,  '  Eugene  Grey  &  Co.,  Dear 
Sirs: '  '  making  her  voice  big  and  scary 
to  the  child's  delight,  "  '  You  know  noth 
ing  whatever  about  packing  jessamines. 
Your  flowers  are  fine,  but  you  do  not 
know  your  business,'  "  and  both  went  off 
into  happy  peals  of  laughter.  Then  the 
child  said: 

"  And  he  didn't  dream  that  '  Eugene 


Cape  Jessamines 


Grey  &  Co.,'  were  just  you  and  me,  — 
did  he,  mother?  " 

"  No,  indeed,"  responded  Mrs.  Grey 
with  a  mist  over  her  eyes,  as  she  looked 
into  the  unseeing  face  of  the  little  hea'd 
of  the  firm. 

"  But  we  just  tried  till  we  found  out 
how  to  do  it  right,  didn't  we,  mother?  " 

"  Yes,  we  did,  but  we  mustn't  forget 
that  nice  man  in  New  York  who  helped 
us  so  much,"  Mrs.  Grey  returned. 

"Oh,  no,  we  mustn't!"  exclaimed  the 
child,  "  he  did  write  us  such  a  nice  letter. 
—  What  did  he  say,  mother?"  always 
eager  to  hear  it  again. 

"  '  Eugene  Grey  &  Co.,'  "  she  began, 
knowing  that  it  would  never  do  to  leave 
out  the  name  of  the  firm. 

"  '  DEAR  SIRS:  — Your  flowers  are  the 
finest  ever  sent  me,  but  if  you  will  par- 


The  Blossom  Shop 


don  my  frankness,  I  will  say  that  you  do 
not  pack  them  to  good  advantage.  You 
take  infinite  pains,  but  much  of  your 
labor  is  wasted.  I  am  taking  the  liberty 
of  sending  you  a  box  of  jessamines  prop 
erly  packed,  and  shall  be  greatly  pleased 
if  it  proves  of  service  to  you  by  suggest 
ing  an  improved  method. 

"  '  Yours  very  truly, 
"  <  SHAW  &  COMPANY. 
"  '  Per  Alfred  M.  Shaw.'  " 

Both  knew  by  heart  the  letter  which 
had  meant  so  much  to  them,  but  Gene 
clasped  her  little  hands  with  fresh  joy 
when  she  heard  it  once  more,  and  said 
ecstatically: 

"Oh,  wasn't  that  nice,  mother?  and 
when  the  box  came  we  saw  just  how  to 
do  it  right,  didn't  we?" 

"We   did    indeed,"   said   Mrs.    Grey, 


Cape  Jessamines  9 

"  and     the     beautiful     blossoms     have 
brought     us     so     many     good     things 


since." 


"  Oh,  mother,  we  began  in  the  middle 
of  the  story,"  laughed  Gene,  with  playful 
scorn  in  her  small  voice,  "  tell  what  the 
cape  jessamines  whispered  and  about  the 
tall  old  gentleman  who  came  to  see  you." 

Mrs.  Grey  smiled,  tucking  carefully 
in  the  last  fragrant,  white  beauty  a  box 
would  hold,  before  she  began  at  the 
beginning. 

"  Your  dear  father  had  gone,  because 
God  wanted  him  in  Heaven,"  she  said, 
her  voice  dropping  into  tender  sadness; 
"  it  was  five  years  ago,  and  you,  a  little 
three-year-old,  and  I  were  all  alone,  with 
almost  nothing  but  the  dear  old  house 
and  Uncle  Sam.  I  did  not  know  how  we 
were  to  live.  It  seemed  to  everyone  that 
I  must  sell  the  old  home  and  try  to  get 


10  The  Blossom  Shop 

a  place  to  teach  somewhere."  Then  she 
roused  herself  from  the  sadness  and  went 
on  with  gentle  gaiety. 

"  But,  there  was  still  mother's  little 
Eugene,  when  her  big  Eugene  was  gone, 
and  we  walked  about  the  dear  old  house 
and  we  said,  '  there  is  grandfather's  chair 
by  the  library  table,  we  can  sit  here  on 
the  couch  by  the  windows  and  dream  that 
he  is  there  still,  and  we  will  keep  so  quiet 
lest  we  disturb  him  as  he  reads.'  Then 
out  in  the  yard  we  walked  among  grand 
mother's  flowers,  and  we  could  hear 
every  cape  jessamine  whispering  '  stay 
and  take  care  of  us  for  her  sake,'  and 
when  we  went  to  the  long,  cool  porch, 
father  seemed  to  smile  at  us  from  the 
pillows  again,  —  and  we  said  finally: 

'  We  will  not  leave  the  old  place. 
God  can  take  care  of  us  here,  and  He 
will.' " 


Cape  Jessamines  11 

The  child  listened  with  rapt,  exalted 
face. 

"  Then  old  Sam  came  around  and  we 
told  him  we  were  going  to  stay  right 
here,  and  he  said:  '  Bless  Gord!  An'  I'll 
stay  wid  you  an'  take  kere  of  you  lack  I 
promise  ole  Mistis.' ' 

There  was  a  pause  while  Mrs.  Grey 
drew  forward  another  box  for  packing. 

"  What  next,  mother? "  asked  the 
little  listener. 

"  Well,  Uncle  Sam  did  stay  and  help 
us  all  he  could,  and  we  got  along  some 
how  for  a  year;  but  we  needed*  money 
for  many  things,  and  we  had  very,  very 
little.  At  last  one  day,  when  the  cape  jes 
samines  blossomed  again,  came  a  tall, 
old  gentleman  from  a  town  far  away, 
who  knew  grandfather  well,  and  who 
talked  with  us  a  long  time  about  him. 
When  he  went  away  we  walked  down  the 


12  The  Blossom  Shop 

front  steps  with  him  and  down  the  long 
gravelled  way  to  the  gate,  with  grand 
mother's  cape  jessamines  growing  each 
side  all  full  of  fragrant  blossoms,  and  he 
exclaimed : 

"  *  How  these  would  sell  in  northern 
cities!  If  they  could  be  successfully 
shipped  there,  they  would  bring  in  a 
good  sum  of  money  each  year.'  And  I 
stopped  still  and  said :  '  Tell  me  all  you 
know  about  shipping  flowers,  please,' 
and  he  looked  at  me  surprised,  but  he 
told  me  a  great  deal  about  the  flower 
trade  of  the  North,  for  he  was  a  retired 
florist,  and  how  he  thought  jessamines 
might  be  shipped  successfully.  Then  he 
took  from  his  pocket  a  bit  of  paper  with 
a  receipt  for  a  preservative  to  be  used  in 
shipping  flowers  and  gave  it  to  me.  I 
thanked  him,  and  when  he  was  gone  you 
and  I  skipped  into  the  dear  old  house 


WE  LL     TURN      THE     OLD     HOUSE     INTO     A     BLOSSOM 
SHOP.'  " 


Cape  Jessamines  13 

again  and  we  hugged  and  kissed  one  an 
other!" 

"  Oh,  didn't  we?  "  laughed  the  child. 

"  Yes,  and  you  didn't  know  what  it  was 
all  about  till  I  said :  '  We'll  go  into  busi 
ness,  my  baby  Eugene.  Oh,  the  sweetest, 
dearest  business  in  the  world!  We'll  be 
flower  merchants,  baby;  we'll  turn  the 
old  house  into  a  Blossom  Shop,  and  the 
name  of  our  firm  will  be  "  Eugene  Grey 
&  Co."  You  are  "  Eugene  Grey,"  you 
know,  and  mother  will  be  the  "Co." 
And  we  laughed  and  danced  till  we  could 
no  longer.  Then  we  remembered  that 
dear  grandmother  used  to  say  few  people 
were  so  poor  they  had  nothing  to  share 
with  others,  and  here  was  our  chance. 
Most  of  us  in  the  South  are  pretty  poor 
since  the  war,  but  we  do  have  more  sun 
shine  than  people  in  the  North,  and  we 
felt  it  would  be  lovely  to  send  our  rare 


14  The  Blossom  Shop 

flowers  with  their  beauty  and  fragrance 
to  the  cold  North.  The  very  next  day  we 
began  packing  grandmother's  cape  jessa 
mines  and  shipping  them  away  to  big 
northern  cities,  and  they  brought  us  back 
money ;  the  town  schools,  also,  soon  came 
to  buy  our  japonicas  and  many  other 
flowers  for  decorative  use  at  their  con 
certs,  debates  and  various  entertainments. 
So  we  have  stayed  in  the  dear  old  place, 
thanking  the  cape  jessamines  and  all  the 
other  flowers  every  day  for  the  good 
things  they  bring  us." 

"  These  jessamines,  I  am  sure,  are  go 
ing  to  a  wedding,  mother,"  said  the  child 
after  a  moment,  with  the  quaint  look  of 
a  seer  upon  her  face. 

The  mother  laughed  with  the  always 
ready  response  to  the  child's  pretty  fan 
cies,  and  replied: 

"  Yes,  I  see,  —  the  wedding  of  a  dear 


Cape  Jessamines  15 

young  girl  as  sweet  and  pure  as  the  blos 


soms." 


"  What  color  hair  has  she,  mother,  and 
what  are  her  eyes  like?  " 

Mrs.  Grey  made  pretense  of  consulting 
unseen  authorities  and  then  announced: 

"  Why,  her  hair  is  like  gold  spun  into 
curling,  gossamer  threads,  and  her  eyes 
are  like  the  bluest  blue  violets!" 

"  Oh,  what  lovely  things  you  always 
see!"  exclaimed  the  child  ecstatically. 

Sometimes  it  was  a  little  sick  girl,  or 
a  crippled  boy  in  a  big  hospital  to  whom 
they  decided  their  flowers  were  going, 
and  they  pictured  the  delight  when  the 
box  of  sweet-smelling  things  were 
opened.  Gene  declared  with  a  pathos 
of  which  she  was  wholly  unconscious 
that  things  which  smelled  sweet  were 
trie  prettiest  things  in  the  world!  Or 
sometimes  the  blossoms  were  bound  for 


16  The  Blossom  Shop 

a  baby's  birthday  party,  or  perhaps  a 
specially  beautiful  waxen  flower  was  to 
be  clasped  by  tiny  still  hands,  and  the 
mother's  skill  made  even  this  a  sweet, 
dear  mission  for  their  treasures  which 
held  no  sadness. 

"  Now  they  are  done,"  announced 
Mrs.  Grey,  at  last,  "  the  six  boxes  of 
beauties." 

"  They  are  all  ready  for  the  dear 
babies  then,"  cried  Gene,  and  with  a 
hand  slightly  lifted  she  tripped  across  to 
the  basin  where  her  baby  flowers  lay. 
She  took  them  up  tenderly  saying: 
"  Now,  you  must  get  on  your  soft  warm 
cloaks,"  and  carrying  them  back  to  the 
table,  she  wrapped  each  stem  in  fluffy 
cotton,  kissed  each  baby  blossom  a  rap 
turous  good-by  and  tucked  them,  one  by 
one,  snugly  in  the  center  of  each  big  box. 

It  had  always  been  hard  for  the  little 


Cape  Jessamines  17 

girl  to  see  the  dear  flowers  go  without 
kissing  them  good-by,  so  they  hit  upon 
this  plan  of  putting  always  an  extra  one 
in  each  box,  a  baby  blossom  which  she 
could  kiss  to  her  heart's  content. 

High-spirited,  independent,  impulsive 
by  nature,  the  mother's  daily  pivotal 
thought  from  Gene's  babyhood  had  been 
to  transmute  everything  into  sweetness 
and  light  for  the  child,  and  she  had 
learned  well  how  to  catch  and  reflect  the 
inner  gleam  of  every  passing  cloud,  al 
though  within  her  own  breast  something 
bitter  of  which  the  little  one  knew  noth 
ing  often  heaved  and  surged.  There 
was  little  of  the  business  atmosphere 
consequently  apparent  with  this  unique 
firm.  "  Doing  for  others "  seemed  to  be 
its  watchword.  There  was  always  one 
big  box  of  cape  jessamines  packed  with 
special  delight,  which  went  to  Shaw  & 


18  The  Blossom  Shop 

Co.  of  New  York  each  May,  marked, 
"  For  some  Hospital,"  and  no  money 
came  back  in  return.  Then  at  Christmas 
another  box  was  similarly  marked  and 
filled  with  japonicas,  beautiful  southern 
wax-like  flowers  of  brilliant  reds,  pink 
in  varying  shades,  and  pure  white,  which 
did  not  ship  successfully  for  commercial 
purposes,  but  which  went  quite  well 
with  no  delays. 

When  the  last  baby  jessamine  was 
tucked  in,  the  child  turned  to  her 
mother,  anxiety  in  her  voice. 

"  Are  there  any  flowers  left,  mother?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  there  are  five  or  six  very 
pretty  ones." 

"  Then   we    can    take    them    to   Aunt 
Calline  this  evening,  can't  we?     Uncle 
Sam  says  *  de  mis'ry  in  her  back  was  most 
concruciating  de  las'  time  he  seed  her,'  ' 
said    the    little    girl,    merrily    imitating 


Cape  Jessamines  19 

Uncle  Sam.  Then  sobering  instantly,  she 
asked,  "  Could  there  be  some  broth, 
mother?  " 

"  Yes,  darling,  I  think  so,"  the  mother 
replied. 

Giving  had  always  been  a  part  of 
living  in  the  old  Dawson  home.  Few 
there  were  in  the  little  southern  town 
about  whose  door-yard  flowers  did  not 
spring  up  almost  unbidden,  but  barren 
negro  cabins,  not  a  few,  were  trans 
formed  in  sickness  or  sorrow  by  blossoms 
from  the  old  Dawson  yard,  while  a  bowl 
of  soup  or  some  small  delicacy  took  the 
place  of  substantial  supplies  which  once 
went  freely  from  a  full  larder. 


CHAPTER    II 

A  GAY    CAVALCADE 


1  HE  boxes  of  jessamines  were  hardly 
disposed  of  when  there  came  a  tramp 
ing  of  heavy  hoofs,  mingled  with  merry 
talk  and  laughter  of  children.  Gene's 
head  was  poised  a  moment,  listening, 
then  joy  lit  up  her  small  face. 

"They  are  coming,  mother;  coming 
for  me,  I  know,"  and  even  as  she  said  it, 
a  great  black  mule  loaded  with  children 
from  neck  to  tail  came  around  the  corner 
of  the  house  to  the  rear  piazza  where  the 
flowers  had  been  packed. 

"  Here  we  are,"  cried  Hannie  Carter, 

small  driver  of  the  big  black  steed,  "  and 
20 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  21 

there's  room  for  Gene,  Mrs.  Grey,  and 
we'll  take  such  good  care  of  her.  You 
know  old  Queen  never  did  anything  bad 
in  the  world,  —  she's  the  dearest  old 
mulie  ever  was,"  and  she  leaned  for 
ward  to  stroke  the  big,  black  ears 
while  the  old  mule  looked  kindly  from 
her  sleepy  eyes  as  if  to  reassure  Mrs. 
Grey. 

"  Oh,  mother^  mother,  do  let  me  go," 
begged  Gene,  dancing  up  and  down  in  a 
flutter  of  delight. 

Before  Mrs.  Grey  could  answer,  an 
other  big,  black  mule  turned  the  corner 
of  the  house  similarly  loaded  with  merry 
children. 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Grey,"  began  May  Carter, 
the  second  small  driver,  almost  out  of 
breath  in  her  haste,  "  do  let  me  have 
Gene  this  time?  You  know  old  King  is 
such  a  good  mule! " 


22  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  But  I  got  here  first,"  said  Hannie 
stoutly. 

"  Well,  you  had  Gene  last  time,"  re 
torted  May. 

"  Wait  a  minute,  wait  a  minute,"  cried 
Mrs.  Grey,  laughing.  "  Where  are  you 
going,  small  travellers?" 

"  To  g-r-a-n-d-m-o-t-h-e-r's,"  came  a 
chorus  of  gay  voices,  drawing  the  word 
out  to  lengthen  the  delight. 

Uncle  Sam  stood  by  the  piazza  steps, 
his  old  hat  in  one  hand,  his  kindly  black 
face  softened  by  a  gray  crown  of  hair 
meeting  a  thick,  short  mass  of  white 
beard  in  a  snowy  circle,  his  old  figure 
bent  and  poorly  clad,  but  holding  a  cer 
tain  dignity  of  bearing. 

"  I'll  go  'long,  Miss  Alice,  ter  see  ter 
'em,"  he  said,  for  he  could  not  resist  the 
pleading,  eager  face  of  the  little  child  of 
his  heart.  She  ran  forward  at  the  sound 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  23 

of  his  voice  and  jumped,  unseeing,  into 
his  big  arms,  knowing  they  would  be 
ready  for  her. 

"  We're  going  to  have  her,"  cried 
Hannie.  "  We're  going  to  have  her," 
clamored  May,  and  before  Mrs.  Grey 
could  speak,  old  Sam  put  out  a  staying 
hand: 

"  Now,  yer  jes'  let  me  fix  dat  She's 
gwine  wid  Miss  Hannie,  'cause  she  got 
here  fust,  but  she's  er  coming  back  wid 
Miss  May,  'cause  we  won't  have  no 
favorin',"  and  that  settled  it. 

In  the  rough,  black  arms  Gene  was 
carefully  lifted  to  a  place  in  the  center 
of  the  wriggling  line  of  merry,  laughing 
children  on  old  Queen's  back.  There 
seemed  always  room  for  one  more  on 
that  broad  expanse. 

Then,  as  the  mules  turned  slowly 
around  amid  squeals  of  delight,  Gene 


24  The  Blossom  Shop 

waved  a  hand  to  mother,  her  little  face 
radiant,  and  Mrs.  Grey  waved  gaily  in 
return,  feeling  sure  that  with  Uncle  Sam 
in  charge  no  harm  could  come. 

Down  Main  Street  they  went,  waving 
and  shouting  merrily  to  the  people  they 
passed,  for  everybody  knew  the  Carter 
children  and  the  two  fine  carriage 
mules,  which  had  always  been  their 
playmates. 

The  big,  black  fellows  were  gentle  as 
great  dogs,  and  knew  well  their  responsi 
bility,  when  loaded  with  happy  little 
folks. 

Main  Street  straggled  through  the 
small  Alabama  town  where  the  Greys 
and  Carters  lived,  creeping  in  at  the 
north  from  picturesque,  red-clay  hills 
and  turning  out  or  in  accommodatingly, 
as  it  went,  to  include  everything  of  impor 
tance,  except  the  schools.  It  gathered  in 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  25 

the  big,  dignified  antebellum  homes  in 
the  suburbs  at  either  end,  then  the  stores, 
the  hotel,  the  court-house  and  the 
churches.  Finally,  as  if  to  make  up  for 
its  neglect  of  the  two  fine  old  colleges, 
which  were  left  with  their  beautiful 
campuses  on  either  side,  it  made  a  sharp 
detour  near  the  southern  end  to  reach  the 
sleepy  little  railroad  station,  where  trains 
came  in  bringing  troops  of  boys  and  girls 
to  the  schools  in  the  fall  and  carried  them 
away  again  in  the  late  spring.  The  strag 
gling  street  was  lost  at  last  in  the  south 
amid  fertile  farms  and  luxurious  wood 
lands. 

Not  far  from  the  abrupt  turn  near  the 
southern  end  of  the  street  stood  the  homes 
of  the  Greys  and  Carters,  somewhat 
apart  from  their  fellows.  The  Carter 
house  was  square  and  dignified,  with 
massive  white  pillars  in  stately  row 


26  The  Blossom  Shop 

across  the  front,  reaching  from  the 
veranda  floor  to  its  roof;  broad  halls 
separating  spacious  rooms  on  either  side 
of  two  floors,  while  a  big  attic  filled  the 
space  above.  Tall  shrubs,  perfectly 
trimmed,  outlined  the  yard,  arched  the 
entrance  and  followed  the  paths  about 
roomy  flower  beds,  while  magnolias, 
japonicas,  citronalis,  syringas,  altheas 
and  crepe  myrtles  grew  luxuriantly 
everywhere.  Mr.  John  Carter  lived 
there  with  his  two  motherless  little  girls, 
Hannie  and  May,  eleven  and  nine  years 
old,  and  Mammy  Sue,  their  capable  old 
colored  nurse. 

Big,  branching  trees  with  nesting 
mocking-birds  hung  protectingly  over 
the  old  place  where  the  Greys  lived.  It 
was  one-storied,  broad  verandas  follow 
ing  its  rambling  outline,  and  wide  halls 
intersecting  it  at  right  angles,  through 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  27 

which  swept  the  summer  breezes,  laden 
with  the  fragrance  of  row  after  row  of 
blossoming  cape  jessamines.  It  was 
called  the  Dawson  place,  though  bearers 
of  the  old  name  had  all  passed  away, 
and  Mrs.  Grey  and  her  little  daughter, 
last  descendants  of  the  fine  old  family, 
lived  there  alone  with  Uncle  Sam, 
the  old  colored  man-servant,  in  the 
yard. 

The  inmates  of  the  two  houses  had  al 
ways  been  closest  friends,  and  now  it  was 
one  of  Gene's  great  delights  to  be  with 
Hannie  and  May.  Hannie  was  large 
for  her  age,  her  light  hair  sunburned 
and  wind-blown,  her  gray-blue  eyes  big 
and  merry  and  eager  with  the  delights 
of  ever-new  plans;  impulsive,  blunder 
ing,  she  was  always  getting  into  some 
difficulty,  but  as  surely  coming  out  safely 
through  her  honest  intentions  and  warm- 


28  The  Blossom  Shop 

heartedness,  which  won  her  friends 
everywhere.  May  was  small  with  dark 
hair  always  precisely  combed,  soft  dark 
eyes  and  rosy  cheeks;  a  dear,  happy,  de 
pendent  child,  just  her  sister's  opposite 
in  many  things. 

If  Gene  loved  to  be  with  her  two  little 
friends,  they  as  certainly  loved  to  have 
her,  and  nothing  was  nicer  for  all  three 
than  to  go  on  a  frolic  with  the  mules. 
Mrs.  Grey  often  trusted  them  with  Gene 
when  they  went  alone,  but  she  could  not 
have  let  the  child  go  with  the  spirited 
company  of  that  June  day  without  Uncle 
Sam. 

The  gay  cavalcade  soon  passed  the 
little  railroad  station  and  jogged  on  mer 
rily  into  the  country  about  a  mile,  when 
they  drew  up  before  a  beautiful  old  plan 
tation  home,  where  the  Carter  children's 
maternal  grandmother  lived. 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  29 

They  halted  before  the  gate  with  a 
chorus  of  gay  "  Helios,"  and  grand 
mother,  a  round,  smiling  old  lady,  soon 
came  slowly  down  the  front  walk  to  meet 
them.  Of  course  there  must  always  be 
some  "  make-believe,"  and  she  was  ready 
for  it. 

"  Howdy!  "  said  Hannie,  who  was  usu 
ally  spokeswoman,  as  grandmother  came 
near  to  them.  "  Can  you  keep  a  poor 
family  for  a  little  while  and  let  'em  rest 
a  spell,  lady?  " 

"  Why,  certainly,"  replied  grand 
mother,  "  just  light  and  hitch,"  falling 
into  the  parlance  of  "  poor  whites." 
"  Are  these  all  your  children?  "  she  went 
on. 

"  Yes,  they're  all  mine,"  said  Hannie, 
while  the  rest  giggled  behind  one  an 
other  in  delight,  "  but  they  are  not  all 
I've  got.  Most  of  my  children  are  at 


30  The  Blossom  Shop 

home  with  the  measles,"  and  then  they 
laughed  outright. 

"  Is  that  so? "  cried  grandmother, 
pushing  up  her  spectacles.  "  Well,  you 
shall  have  some  sassafras  to  take  back 
with  you  and  make  tea  to  bring  the 
measles  out  good,  and  your  '  chillun ' 
will  soon  be  well." 

"  Thank  you  so  much,  lady.  I've 
heard  how  good  you  are,  and  that's  the 
reason  I  come  to  see  you." 

"Just  get  right  down,  all  of  you,  for 
I  know  you  will  be  needing  some  tea 
cakes  and  lemonade.  But  I  want  the 
dear  little  girl  in  the  middle  first,"  and 
Uncle  Sam,  grinning  in  as  much  enjoy 
ment  as  the  children,  handed  Gene  down 
to  the  motherly  arms  of  Grandmother 
Butler. 

Into  the  house  they  trooped  and  over 
flowed  the  place,  running  riot  every- 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  31 

where.  Somebody  always  had  hold  of 
Gene's  hand,  and  her  little  feet  went  fly 
ing  with  the  rest. 

They  played  hide-and-seek,  prisoner's 
base,  and  "  Chickie  me,  chickie  me, 
cranie  crow,"  out  under  the  big  trees,  till, 
breathless  at  last,  they  sat  down  on  the 
front  porch  steps,  and  then  grandmother 
served  the  lemonade  and  tea  cakes. 
How  delicious  it  was! 

As  they  sat  there  in  comparative  quiet, 
Gene  said  ecstatically,  "  Grandmothers 
are  so  nice,  aren't  they?  I  wish  I  had 
just  one  grandmother,"  with  a  little  plain 
tive  note  in  her  voice. 

"  Well,  your  Grandmother  Dawson 
was  all  right,"  spoke  up  a  clear  little 
voice,  "  but  I  should  think  you'd  be  glad 
your  Grandmother  Grey  was  dead,  —  she 


was  so  mean." 


The  listeners  all  were  appalled  at  the 


32  The  Blossom  Shop 

child's  frankness,  and  frightened  wonder 
flashed  upon  Gene's  sweet  face,  which  in 
the  moment's  silence  following  the 
speech  settled  into  little  hurt  quivers 
about  the  mouth. 

Then  Hannie  Carter  sprang  noise 
lessly  for  the  offending  child  and  taking 
her  stoutly  by  the  arm  hurried  her  away, 
while  May  with  quick  tact  took  Gene's 
hand  in  hers  and  cried: 

"  Oh,  I  know  what  let's  do!  Get 
grandmother  to  tell  us  a  story  about  when 
she  was  a  little  girl!  Won't  you,  grand 
mother,  dear? "  and  the  story  began 
promptly. 

When  Hannie  had  the  small  offender 
out  of  hearing,  she  demanded: 

"  Oh,  what  made  you  say  that?  " 

The  little  girl  looked  frightened,  and 
faltered: 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  —  don't  Gene  know 


A  Gay  Cavalcade  33 

her  Grandmother  Grey  was  mean  -  - 1 
thought  everybody  knew  it,"  the  child 
ended  stoutly. 

"  No,  she  doesn't,"  declared  Hannie 
emphatically,  "  and  I  know  Mrs.  Grey 
wouldn't  have  her  told  for  anything!" 

"  I  didn't  know,"  said  the  other  begin 
ning  to  cry,  and  Hannie  Carter,  always 
big-hearted  and  blundering  herself,  put 
her  arms  about  the  little  transgressor 
repentantly : 

"  Never  mind.  I  hear  grandmother 
telling  a  lovely  story,  we'll  go  back  and  I 
reckon  Gene  will  forget  all  about  it." 

But  Gene  did  not  forget;  she  was  quiet 
during  the  rest  of  the  stay  and  the  ride 
home,  though  the  children  scarcely  no 
ticed,  so  gay  were  they  themselves. 


CHAPTER   III 

WAS  GRANDMOTHER  GREY  MEAN? 

.L/ATE  in  the  afternoon  when  Gene  and 
Mrs.  Grey  strolled  together  among  the 
flowers  in  their  own  big  yard,  the  child 
made  her  mother's  heart  stand  still  when 
she  asked: 

"  Mother,  was  my  Grandmother  Grey 
mean?  " 

Mrs.  Grey  knew  instantly  some  one 
had  been  talking  to  her,  and  that  bitter 
hidden  thing  in  her  breast  beat  with  sud 
den  fury  against  long  restraint,  but  after 
a  moment's  pause  to  steady  herself,  she 
replied: 

"  No,  dear,  I  do  not  think  your  Grand 
mother  Grey  was  mean.  I  never  saw 

84 


Was  Grandmother  Grey  Mean?     35 

her,  but  your  father  loved  her  most  ten 
derly." 

"  Why  did  Susie  Milton  say  she  was 
mean,  then?  " 

"  There  is  a  story  I  meant  to  tell  my 
little  girl  when  she  was  older  —  " 

"  Oh,  mother,  tell  me  now,  —  I  can't 
be  wondering  if  Susie  was  right  about 
my  dear  Grandmother  Grey,"  and  the 
little  slender  hands  clung  pleadingly  to 
the  mother's. 

"  Well,  dearie,"  said  Mrs.  Grey 
slowly,  girding  herself  for  the  task  of 
making  the  story  meet  for  such  a  hearing, 
"  it  is  just  a  little  bit  of  a  story.  Your 
father's  home  was  in  the  North,  but  he 
was  South  one  winter  on  business,  and  he 
met  me  and  wanted  that  we  should  stay 
together  as  long  as  we  lived.  He  wrote 
his  father  and  mother  a  letter  telling 
them  he  wanted  to  marry  a  southern  girl, 


36  The  Blossom  Shop 

but  you  know  in  that  dreadful  war,  we 
had  not  so  very  long  ago,  —  the  war  be 
tween  brothers  north  and  south,  —  many 
people  in  the  North  learned  to  dislike 
people  in  the  South,  and  many  in  the 
South  to  dislike  those  in  the  North.  Your 
Grandfather  Grey  was  one  who  felt  very 
bitterly  toward  southern  people,  and  he 
was  extremely  angry  when  your  father 
wanted  to  marry  a  southern  girl,  —  so 
angry  that  he  never  forgave  father.  So 
we  always  lived  here,  and  your  father 
never  went  to  his  home  again.  But 
Grandmother  Grey  wrote  to  him  always, 
and  to  you  and  me  after  he  was  gone. 
In  less  than  a  year  after  your  dear  father 
left  us,  Grandfather  and  Grandmother 
Grey  both  died  the  same  night.  It  was 
thought  that  the  shock  of  his  death,  com 
ing  in  the  night  while  she  was  alone  with 
him,  caused  her  death,  for  she  was 


Was  Grandmother  Grey  Mean?     37 

found  kneeling  beside  his  bed  the  next 
morning."  Feeling  the  little  hand 
tighten  nervously  upon  her  own,  the 
mother  went  on  steadily: 

"  It  was  a  beautiful  way  for  the  two 
to  go  to  Heaven,  —  to  go  together  after 
so  many  years  with  one  another  on  earth." 
Then  there  was  a  pause  for  several  min 
utes. 

"  Well,  I  don't  see  why  they  call 
grandmother  mean,"  said  Gene,  at  last, 
a  little  indignantly. 

"  It  is  unjust,  I  am  sure,  so  far  as  she 
was  concerned,"  replied  the  mother 
quietly.  "  But  your  grandfather  was  a 
very  wealthy  man  and  he  did  not  leave 
you,  his  son's  little  girl,  a  cent  of  his 
money,"  the  words  were  a  bit  crisper 
now.  "  I  believe  grandmother  would 
have  been  glad  to  leave  it  all  to  you," 
softening  again,  "but  she  did  not  have 


38  The  Blossom  Shop 

the  opportunity,  and  yet  people  generally 
blame  them  both,  so  that  is  probably  why 
Susie  said  what  she  did.  The  money  all 
went  to  your  grandfather's  sister,  a 
maiden  lady,  your  great-aunt,  with 
plenty  of  money  of  her  own.  Some  day 
I  will  show  you  the  letter  she  wrote  to 
us  telling  us  all  about  it.  And  now, 
dearie,"  firmly,  "  I  want  you  to  love 
Grandmother  Grey  just  as  you  always 
have,  —  and  Grandfather  Grey,  too,  for 
I  don't  doubt  he  thought  he  was  doing 
exactly  right,"  she  compelled  herself  to 
add. 

"  Your  father  always  said  he  was  a 
very  upright  and  kind  man,  though  very 
stern." 

The  two  walked  quietly  a  few  minutes 
more  and  then  Gene  began: 

"  Mother  dear,  read  me  the  letter  from 
my  great-aunt"  She  never  forgot  what 


Was  Grandmother  Grey  Mean?     39 

she  heard,  the  little  ears  held  tenaciously 
what  came  to  them,  to  make  up  for  what 
the  eyes  failed  to  bring. 

Knowing  that  the  child  would  not  rest 
until  she  knew  all,  Mrs.  Grey  at  once  led 
Gene  into  the  house  and  took  from  her 
desk  drawer  a  letter  some  four  years  old. 

Long  restraint  was  standing  the  high- 
spirited  young  mother  in  good  stead  in 
this  unexpected  crisis. 

She  drew  Gene  down  beside  her  on 
the  library  couch,  and  folding  an  arm 
quietly  about  her  began  the  reading: 

"MRS.  EUGENE  GREY. 

"DEAR  MADAM:  —  My  previous  let 
ter  of  last  week  gave  you  the  details  of  the 
death  of  my  dear  brother  James  and  his 
wife,  father  and  mother  of  your  late  hus 
band.  I  write  now  to  tell  you  that  by  the 
terms  of  my  brother's  will,  which  has  just 


40  The  Blossom  Shop 

been  probated,  I,  his  only  sister  and  near 
relative,  am  made  sole  heir  to  his  estate. 
Lydia,  his  beloved  wife,  was  given  a  life 
time  interest,  which  in  the  providence 
of  God  was  exceedingly  brief.  I  can  but 
carry  out  conscientiously  the  wishes  of 
my  esteemed  brother,  on  whose  wise 
judgment  I  have  always  relied.  It 
seemed  to  him  unwise  to  turn  over  to 
you  and  your  child,  the  earnings  of 
his  busy  life,  and  I  respect  his  conclu 
sions." 

Between  indignation,  resentment  and 
protective  tenderness  for  the  unseeing 
child  the  mother's  heart  was  in  a  tumult 
as  she  approached  the  next  sentence. 
Never  had  she  taken  advantage  of  the 
child's  infirmity  for  real  deception,  but 
she  could  not  read  quietly  aloud  the  fol 
lowing  cruel  words: 


"  I  realize  that  your  child  is  blind,  but 
can  only  remind  you  that  this  was  prob 
ably  in  the  providence  of  God  a  judg 
ment  sent  upon  poor,  erring  Eugene  for 
his  utter  disregard  of  parental  authority. 
See  Exodus,  twentieth  chapter,  verse  five. 
And  even  if  I  should  be  willing  to  set 
aside  my  brother's  wishes,  I  dare  not  in 
terfere  with  the  dispensations  of  Provi 
dence." 

Desperately  Mrs.  Grey  plunged  past 
this,  touching  the  letter  at  a  point  below. 

"  Lydia,  the  wife  of  my  brother  James, 
fully  forgave  her  son,  your  husband,  and 
would  gladly  have  given  his  widow  and 
his  child  everything  she  possessed,  so  I 
am  sending  you  by  express,  at  my  ex 
pense,  a  trunk  full  of  her  clothing,  of 
which  I  am  sure  you  can  make  use,  if 


42  The  Blossom  Shop 

properly   brought   up    in    economy    and 
thrift. 

"  Yours  sincerely  and  faithfully, 
"  MARTHA  GREY." 

There  had  been  times  when  Mrs.  Grey 
had  found  grim  humor  in  this  part  of  the 
letter,  but  for  the  little  girl's  ears  it 
seemed  so  cold  and  hard  that  the  mother's 
breast  heaved  as  she  finished,  though  her 
voice  was  still  steady,  and  holding  her 
self  firmly  she  went  on  at  last  in  a  matter- 
of-fact  way: 

"  Now,  dearie,  Mr.  Carter  said  he  was 
sure  we  could  break  that  will  of  your 
grandfather's  and  get  all  the  money,  and 
he  urged  me  to  do  it,  —  but,  sweetheart, 
would  we  want  it  if  grandfather  didn't 
want  us  to  have  it?  " 

And  the  little  figure  straightened  in 
the  mother's  arms,  with  the  blood  of 


Was  Grandmother  Grey  Mean?     43 

proud  ancestry  both  north  and  south,  and 
said  with  the  firmness  of  a  mature 
woman : 

"No,  mother,  no!" 

The  mother  gathered  the  little  one  to 
her  heart  with  tears  quivering  upon  the 
proud  gleam  in  her  eyes,  but  not  one 
drop  was  allowed  to  touch  the  small 
head,  lest  it  bring  distress  to  that  brave 
little  spirit. 

After  a  moment  the  child  asked  softly: 

"  Mother,  did  the  trunk  ever  come?  " 

"  Yes,  dear." 

Another  pause,  but  Mrs.  Grey  knew 
well  what  the  child  wanted,  so  she  went 
on: 

"  I  have  never  opened  it,  darling.  I 
am  waiting  till  you  are  grown,  when  I 
shall  be  stouter-hearted,  I  hope,  and  you, 
my  precious  little  girl,  may  be  standing 
beside  me  then,  looking  with  me." 


44  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  Oh,  won't  that  be  lovely!  I  believe 
I  will,  mother,  I  do  truly!  " 

Then,  after  a  moment,  the  child  turned 
with  some  instinct  toward  the  setting  sun, 
questioning  wistfully: 

"  Tell  me  how  the  sun  sets,  mother." 

And  Mrs.  Grey,  summoning  her  accus 
tomed  gaiety,  repeated  rhythmically: 

"  How  he  sets  I  know  not, 
There  seems  a  purple  stile 
Which  little  yellow  boys  and  girls 
Are  climbing  all  the  while." 

paraphrasing  a  bit  upon   the  little  sun 
poem  they  had  recently  come  to  love. 

"  I'm  glad  the  little  yellow  boys  and 
girls  are  still  there,"  said  the  child  joy 
ously,  and  the  mother  knew  it  meant  to 
the  little  girl  who  could  not  see  a  subtle 
reassurance  of  the  joys  of  life  after  a  first 
touch  of  its  bitterness  and  its  sorrow. 


m 

CHAPTER    IV 

UNCLE  SAM'S  ECONOMIES 

IDUT  it  had  been  a  day  of  unusual  emo 
tion  for  Mrs.  Grey  with  all  this  going 
over  of  past  things,  and  when  Gene  was 
in  her  little  bed  asleep  the  mother  paced 
the  cape  jessamine  walk  from  the  front 
piazza  to  the  front  gate,  again  and  again. 
The  full  moon  turned  every  snow-white 
jessamine  into  a  silver  star  of  hope,  and 
at  last  she  stopped  beside  them  murmur 
ing: 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  believe  her  sight  will 
come,  but  I  must  know,  I  cannot  bear 
suspense  any  longer." 

Then  she  went  around  the  house  to 
Uncle  Sam's  cabin  and  found  him  sit- 

45 


46  The  Blossom  Shop 

ting  on  his  door-step,  smoking  a  cob- 
pipe.  He  rose  as  quickly  as  his  stiff 
joints  would  let  him. 

"  Uncle  Sam,"  she  began  hurriedly, 
"  I  do  not  know  if  there  is  really  any 
hope  that  Gene  will  ever  see.  I  feel  I 
just  cannot  stand  the  suspense  any 
longer,"  and  her  voice  ended  in  a  sob. 

The  old  negro  shuffled  noisily  on  the 
step  to  cover  the  break  in  her  voice,  and 
said  hastily: 

"  Yas'm,  Miss  Alice,  yas'm,  er  co'se 
ye  gotter  know.  Hit  Stan's  ter  reason  ye 
can't  wait." 

By  this  time  she  had  regained  control 
and  went  on  steadily: 

"  I  must  take  Gene  away  to  some  eye 
specialist  and  have  her  eyes  thoroughly 
examined." 

"  Yas'm,  yas'm,  I  shore  would,"  re 
turned  the  old  darky  heartily. 


Uncle  Sam's  Economies  47 

"  We've  got  a  good  bit  of  money  in  the 
bank  now,  and  I  believe  it  would  help 
me  to  get  more  if  I  knew  definitely  there 
was  hope." 

"  Er  co'se  hit  would!"  old  Sam  ex 
claimed. 

So  the  next  week  Mrs.  Grey  stood  in 
the  doctor's  office  at  the  nearest  large 
town,  while  he  examined  the  little  girl's 
eyes. 

With  utmost  care  the  physician  made 
every  test,  while  the  mother  steadily  held 
a  small,  tense  hand,  her  heart  almost 
breaking  with  suspense,  but  showing  no 
sign. 

At  last  the  physician  said  cheerily: 

"  Now,  we  will  go  out  where  there  is 
the  sweetest  bird  singing,  and  you  can 
listen,  little  one,  while  mother  and  I 
come  back  here  for  a  talk." 

So  Gene  was  comfortably  seated  be- 


48  The  Blossom  Shop 

side  a  warbling  canary,  and  Mrs.  Grey 
went  back  with  the  doctor  to  the  consult 
ing-room. 

She  stood  before  him  unable  to  ask  a 
question,  but  the  doctor  did  not  wait. 

"  Madam,  I  believe  Dr.  Eastman  of 
New  York  can  give  your  child  sight. 
Mind  you,  I  believe''  he  said  sternly, 
seeing  the  rush  of  joy. 

"  I  haven't  the  skill,"  he  went  on  a  lit 
tle  sadly,  "  but  I  think  Dr.  Eastman  has." 

There  was  silence  a  moment  as  she 
struggled  to  stem  with  his  uncertainty 
the  tide  of  joy  within  her,  lest  hope  over 
whelm  her.  At  last  she  asked: 

"  It  will  cost  a  great  deal?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  doctor,  letting  his 
glance  rest  keenly  upon  her  face  instead 
of  upon  her  quiet,  tasteful  costume,  which 
might  have  meant  either  wealth  or  pov 
erty.  "  There  is  no  hurry  for  another 


Uncle  Sam's  Economies  49 

year  or  two;  it  might  be  better  to  wait 
until  she  is  a  year  or  two  older." 

"  Thank  you,"  returned  Mrs.  Grey 
with  warm  gratitude.  Time  would 
mean  much  to  her  slowly  growing  bank 
account. 

She  settled  her  bill  with  the  doctor, 
which  his  keen  insight  led  him  to  make 
extremely  moderate,  and  then  the  mother 
went  to  the  little  room  where  the  child 
waited  alone. 

The  canary  was  fairly  throbbing  with 
his  outpour  of  melody,  but  the  little  one 
sat  waiting  with  tightly  clasped  hands, 
straining  for  the  sound  of  her  mother's 
footstep.  She  did  not  even  rush  for 
ward  when  it  came  at  last,  but  still  sat 
tensely  immovable,  like  a  beautiful 
waxen  flower. 

"  Darling,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Grey, 
kneeling  gently  before  the  child  and 


50  The  Blossom  Shop 

clasping  her  with  repressed  joy,  "  the  big 
doctor  thinks  you  may  see  some  day." 

The  little  face  quivered  pitifully  a  mo 
ment,  then  joy  flashed  over  it. 

"  I  am  so  glad,  mother,  —  for  you ;  but 
I  don't  mind  not  seeing,  —  I  b'lieve  I'm 
most  afraid  of  seeing, --I'd  rather  trust 
you  and  God  and  Uncle  Sam,"  with  a 
little  tremulous  laugh. 

The  doctor  standing  in  the  doorway 
dropped  back,  brushing  his  eyes  fur 
tively. 

When  Mrs.  Grey  returned  home  with 
Gene  and  told  the  joyful  news,  she  had 
serious  trouble  with  Uncle  Sam.  The 
old  darky,  who  had  continued  with  his 
"  white  folks  "  after  the  war  was  over  and 
freedom  declared,  had  always  refused 
wages,  saying:  "  He  jes'  wanted  what  he 
needed  lack  the  res'  of  the  fambly,"  and 
when  the  failure  of  a  bank  and  death  left 


Uncle  Sam's  Economies  51 

Mrs.  Grey  with  a  very  small  income,  his 
needs  grew  remarkably  few.  She  had 
trouble  constantly  to  make  him  take  suf 
ficient  money  from  her  for  reasonable 
comfort.  But  when  Sam  learned  that 
sight  awaited  little  Gene,  the  idol  of  his 
warm  old  heart,  so  soon  as  there  was 
money  enough  for  the  trip  to  New  York, 
and  to  pay  the  big  doctor  there,  Mrs. 
Grey  could  hardly  keep  clothes  on  his 
back  and  shoes  on  his  feet. 

She  urged  him  to  get  new  footwear 
without  avail,  and  at  last  as  cold  weather 
came  on,  she  handed  him  a  pair  of  stout 
new  shoes  which  she  had  herself  bought 
for  him. 

"  Now,  Miss  Alice,"  said  old  Sam 
with  righteous  indignation  in  his  voice, 
"  I  tole  you  I  didn't  need  no  shoes." 
Then  as  his  protruding  toes  bound  in  rags 
proclaimed  the  falsity  of  that  statement, 


52  The  Blossom  Shop 

he  qualified  it  with  another:  "  Leastways 
I  can't  wear  'em,  kase  my  foots  is  kinder 
sore-like,  and  they  has  ter  have  air,"  he 
ended  deprecatingly. 

Mrs  Grey  hid  a  tender  smile,  but  in 
sisted  firmly  that  he  must  wear  the 
shoes. 

iVery  soon  he  began  coming  to  her 
with  odd  sums  of  money;  he  had  sold  a 
few  potatoes  "  outen  the  garden "  or 
some  chestnuts  "  offen  the  aidge  of  the 
place,"  and  she  grew  sorely  troubled  over 
the  matter,  but  the  old  negro's  joy  was 
so  great  and  the  sums  were  so  small  that 
she  hadn't  the  heart  to  refuse  them. 

Sam  suffered  much  with  rheumatism, 
as  winter  came  on.  A  good-natured 
young  white  boy  hearing  him  complain, 
took  a  flask  of  whisky  from  his  pocket 
and  handing  it  to  the  old  fellow,  said: 

"  Here,  take  this,  Uncle  Sam,  it  will 


Uncle  Sam's  Economies  53 

cure  you  of  that '  rheumatiz,'  and  I  s'pose 
it  ain't  good  for  me." 

Old  Sam  smiled  with  delight,  having  a 
negro's  weakness  for  whisky,  and  ambled 
to  his  cabin  with  alacrity.  But  as  he  was 
about  to  pour  out  a  good,  stiff  drink,  he 
stayed  his  hand. 

"  Look  here,  I'se  a  good  church  mem 
ber,  an'  I  specs  I  better  let  dis  stuff  er 
lone." 

"  But  there  is  the  rheumatiz,"  said  the 
tempter,  "  hit's  jes'  gwine  ter  cure  dat,  — 
'tain't  no  sin  ter  take  medicine." 

How  the  battle  between  the  church 
member's  conscience  and  the  tempter 
would  have  ended  is  uncertain,  but  sud 
denly  there  flashed  before  the  old  darky 
a  vision  of  a  little  sweet  face  and  small 
groping  hands. 

He  put  the  bottle  down  instantly,  the 
liquor  untasted. 


54  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  I  kin  sell  dat  out  ter  niggers  in  dis 
here  dry  town,  an'  get  a  lot  o'  money 
outer  it  fer  Miss  Alice's  bank,"  he  said, 
and  the  church  member's  conscience  did 
not  seem  in  the  least  astir  on  this  point. 
He  watered  it  freely  and  sold  it  out  by 
the  swallow! 

Mrs.  Grey  looked  greatly  troubled 
when  he  handed  her  some  money  a  few 
nights  later.  She  could  not  imagine 
where  he  got  so  large  a  sum. 

He  grinned  delightedly:  "Now,  Miss 
Alice,  don't  be  pesterin'  your  head.  I 
earned  hit  all  right  here  on  dis 
place." 

He  began  also  to  look  askance  upon  all 
needless  expenditures  of  the  family. 

One  day  he  stood  by  Mrs.  Grey  while 
she  fried  some  fritters  for  their  dinner. 
"  Miss  Alice,"  he  ventured,  "  dem  takes 
a  heap  er  lard." 


Uncle  Sam's  Economies  55 

"  Yes,  they  do,"  Mrs.  Grey  acknowl 
edged. 

"  I  don't  think  yer  can  'ford  'em,  Miss 
Alice,"  he  said  solemnly. 

And  her  laugh  rang  out  as  she  de 
clared,  "  Now,  Uncle  Sam,  you  are  not 
going  to  persuade  me  to  give  up  fritters," 
for  nobody  cared  so  much  for  them  as 
Uncle  Sam  himself. 


CHAPTER   V 

LOVE  TURNED  AWAY 

WHEN  their  friends,  the  Carters, 
learned  of  the  glad  possibility  for  Gene, 
Mr.  Carter,  big,  strong,  gentle,  a  very 
well-to-do  lawyer,  came  at  once  to  see 
Mrs.  Grey.  He  had  come  before  with 
fruitless  errand  of  the  heart,  but  now  his 
fine  dark  eyes  were  alight  with  fresh 
hope,  his  broad  shoulders  thrown  back 
and  his  step  eager. 

It  was  evening  and  she  sat  alone  on 
her  piazza  gowned  in  the  white  she  usu 
ally  wore,  and  full  of  the  charm  which 
had  long  ago  mastered  him.  She  saw 
his  tall,  well-built  figure  turn  into  her 
gate,  and  watched  its  graceful,  vigor- 

66 


Love  Turned  Away  57 

ous  swing  as  he  came,  hat  in  hand,  with 
quick  stride  up  the  walk,  the  moonlight 
first  outlining  his  fine  head  with  its 
waving  dark  brown  hair  and  then  re 
vealing  the  smooth  high-bred  face,  — 
stamped  for  woman's  love  and  trust,  — 
and  her  alert  eye  caught  the  spirit  of 
braced  shoulders  and  eager  step,  putting 
her  instantly  on  the  defensive. 

She  greeted  him  in  easy,  friendly  cour 
tesy,  then  said  with  bantering  gaiety: 

"  I'm  so  glad  you've  come !  I've  found 
a  new  poet  whom  you  will  want  to 
know."  They  were  both  lovers  of  books. 

"  Alice,  —  "  he  began  in  strong,  reso 
nant  tones  that  had  nothing  to  do  with 
poetry,  she  knew.  Being  older  than  she 
he  had  domineered  over  her  when  they 
were  children,  she  had  often  told  him, 
and  always  expected  to,  it  seemed. 

"  Now,  John,"  she  broke  in,  "  I  am 


58  The  Blossom  Shop 

literary  this  evening,  encourage  me,  — 
it  is  so  hard  for  a  business  woman  to  find 
time  for  such  things,  -  '  and  she  well 
knew  how  he  hated  the  thought  of  busi 
ness  for  her.  "  The  new  poet  is  Emily 
Dickinson.  A  college  friend  in  the  East 
sent  the  book  to  me  not  long  ago,  and 
Emily  certainly  has  more  delightful 
quirks  and  turns,  more  unexpectedness 
than  any  one  I  know.  I  want  to  give 
you  some  things  that  Gene  and  I  have 
been  so  charmed  with." 

"  All  right,"  the  man  returned  at  last 
quietly,  "  if  you  still  want  to  when  I  have 
said  something  to  you." 

"  But,  do  you  think  that  is  polite,"  she 
returned,  "  to  thrust  in  first  the  thing 
which  interests  you?" 

Sometimes  in  the  past  she  had  been 
able  to  capture  his  interest  with  her 
womanly  gaiety  and  completely  foil  his 


Love  Turned  Away  59 

intentions,  but  now  she  knew  intuitively 
that  her  banter  was   hopeless,   and   yet 
something  drove  her  desperately  on. 
"Just  listen  to  this,"  she  said: 

"  *  I'm  nobody!     Who  are  you? 
Are  you  nobody,  too? 
Then  there's  a  pair  of  us  —  don't  tell, 
They'd  banish  us,  you  know.' 

"  Gene  thinks  that  is  delightful. 
There  is  more  of  it.  We  have  said  it 
over  till  we  know  it  by  heart.  This  is 
another  Gene  and  I  love: 

"  l  I'll  tell  you  how  the  sun  rose, — 
A  ribbon  at  a  time. 
The  steeples  swam  in  amethyst, 
The  news  like  squirrels  ran. 

"'The  hills  untied  their  bonnets, 
The  bobolinks  begun. 
Then  I  said  softly  to  myself, 
"That  must  have  been  the  sun!"' 


60  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  Gene  makes  me  say  that  to  her  every 
morning,  and  at  sunset  we  have  the  other 
half: 

" '  But  how  he  sets,  I  know  not. 
There  seemed  a  purple  stile 
Which  little  yellow  boys  and  girls 
Were  climbing  all  the  while. 

'"Till  when  they  reached  the  other  side 
A  dominee  in  gray 
Put  gently  up  the  evening  bars, 
And  led  the  flock  away.' ' 

A  patch  of  moonlight  flickered 
through  the  trees  upon  her  lovely  face 
as  she  recited  the  little  poem  in  her  soft 
lilting  way,  while  underneath  the  gaiety 
in  a  strain  of  pathos  ran  an  undefined 
yearning  to  draw  him  into  the  common 
joys  of  life  with  her,  —  the  daily  morn 
ing  sunrise  and  the  beauty  of  the  sunset, 
—  since  she  could  not  meet  the  full  de- 


Love  Turned  Away  61 

mand  of  his  heart.  But  utter  silence 
gave  back  the  sweet  allurement  and  her 
gaiety  ran  completely  down. 

"  I  can  talk  about  but  one  thing  to 
night,  Alice,"  the  man  said  firmly  at  last, 
"  and  you  must  listen,"  was  added  with 
the  masterful  note  in  his  voice  before 
which  woman  capitulates. 

There  was  a  moment's  silence  again, 
then: 

"  Alice,"  he  repeated,  "  I  am  here  to 
ask  you  once  more,  —  come  to  me  and 
let  me  care  for  you  and  Gene,"  and  his 
voice,  dropping  the  masterful  tone,  held 
a  tender,  glad  thrill  of  renewed  hope. 

"  Oh,  don't,  John,"  she  exclaimed,  lean 
ing  forward  in  tense  earnestness,  "  for  I 
cannot,  —  I  must  not  be  tempted.  It  is 
not  sure  that  she  can  ever  see,  and  you 
know  I  have  told  you  that  my  little  help 
less  child  must  have  all  my  mother-heart; 


62  The  Blossom  Shop 

I  could  not  give  your  children  equal 
measure,  and  I  would  not  offer  them 
scant  mother-love,  when  they  have  been 
denied  it  nearly  all  their  little  lives. 
Please  do  not  say  any  more  about  it." 

A  long  silence  fell  between  them. 
John  Carter  scorned  to  plead  the  need 
of  himself  or  his  children,  though,  had  he 
chosen,  he  might  have  presented  their 
case  most  eloquently.  He  was  a  lawyer 
of  ability,  but  the  little  southern  town  did 
not  offer  great  things  even  in  return  for 
ability,  and  Mammy  Sue  administered 
the  affairs  of  his  household  with  an  ex 
ceedingly  lavish  hand.  She  had  been 
trained  in  the  affluence  of  ante-bellum 
days  and  now  disdained  economy.  His 
motherless  little  girls  were  not  being 
reared  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  new 
south.  They  never  dressed  themselves  or 
cared  for  their  clothes,  and  when  Mr. 


Love  Turned  Away  63 

Carter  suggested  that  they  should  be 
taught  these  things,  and  to  sew  as  well, 
Mammy  Sue's  nose  went  high  in  the  air. 
And  yet  she  was  &o  capable,  so  high- 
minded  in  the  best  as  well  as  in  the  fool 
ish  sense  that  he  could  not  afford  to  lose 
her.  In  fact,  dismissing  Mammy  Sue 
would  have  been  a  most  difficult  process. 
Neither  she  nor  the  children  dreamed 
that  such  a  step  was  physically  possible 
except  through  death.  Had  she  not  be 
longed  to  Mr.  Carter's  mother  and  her 
ancestors  to  the  Carter  family  for  genera 
tions  back?  So  Mr.  Carter  had  to  see 
his  children  being  poorly  prepared  for 
their  probable  future,  when  close  at 
hand  was  the  one  who  could  train  them 
with  consummate  womanly  skill,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  one  with  the  delicate,  tact 
and  understanding  necessary  to  recon 
struct  Mammy  Sue's  views  of  life.  As 


64  The  Blossom  Shop 

for  himself,  he  simply  could  not  do  it; 
after  his  most  well-directed  effort  with 
her  he  could  vividly  imagine  the  scorn 
with  which  she  inwardly  proclaimed: 

"  Men-folks  don't  know  nothin'  'bout 
things!  Reckon  I's  gwine  to  listen  to 
him  and  make  my  chillum  jes'  lack  po' 
white  trash?  Not  ef  I  kin  he'p  it,  --  I'll 
work  dese  ole  fingers  to  de  bone  fust!" 

But  John  Carter  never  mentioned 
these  things  to  Alice  Grey.  He  offered 
her  the  strong,  abundant  love  of  his  ma 
ture  manhood,  a  love  based  upon  early 
youth's  first  passion.  Another  love  had 
intervened,  but  he  knew  now  that  it  had 
been  a  far  lighter  bond  of  the  soul,  sweet 
and  true  though  it  had  seemed.  He  had 
offered  the  woman  of  his  early  and  ma 
ture  love  and  her  helpless  child  again 
and  again  the  highest,  best  that  was  in 
him,  —  should  that  not  be  enough?  He 


65 


would  not  dwell  upon  it  again,  and  he 
could  not  plead  any  need  of  his  that  her 
heart  did  not  voluntarily  come  out  to 
meet. 

So  after  the  long  silence  John  Carter 
braced  himself  and  said  again  gently: 

"  Alice,  let  me  advance  you  the  money 
to  have  this  operation  performed.  I  am 
able  to  do  it." 

She  leaned  back  in  her  chair  and 
looked  away  from  him  for  a  moment, 
then  replied  firmly: 

"  I  thank  you,  John,  but  I  might  never 
be  able  to  pay  you." 

"  I  don't  care  if  you  don't,"  were 
words  which  leaped  hotly  to  his  lips,  but 
he  restrained  himself,  and  said  quietly 
instead: 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  will,  —  you  are  sure  to, 
—  but  it  will  be  so  much  easier  if  you 
take  your  time  getting  the  money.  If  you 


66  The  Blossom  Shop 

must  earn  it  while  the  little  girl  is  wait 
ing  for  sight,  you  will  feel  so  hurried." 

Her  lips  trembled  at  the  tenderness 
which  the  last  held,  but  grew  firm  again 
instantly. 

"  I  must  earn  the  money  first,  John," 
she  said,  putting  out  a  hand  to  him,  and 
he  knew  that  was  final. 


CHAPTER  VI 

HURRAH   FOR  THE  BLOSSOM  SHOP! 


bit  of  available  space  had 
been  long  planted  in  cape  jessamines  on 
the  old  place,  and  Mrs.  Grey  had  ex 
tended  the  business  as  far  as  possible,  but 
in  spite  of  all  her  industry  and  economy, 
together  with  Uncle  Sam's  surreptitious 
earnings,  the  bank  account  increased  very 
slowly  in  the  light  of  that  new  hope. 
She  grew  restless  and  troubled. 

Along  the  middle  of  November,  one 
beautiful  clear  day,  the  Carter  children 
had  Gene  between  them  on  old  Queen's 
back.  When  they  rode  up  to  the  door 
after  an  hour  in  the  woods,  the  old  mule 

67 


68  The  Blossom  Shop 

was  much  festooned  with  wild  southern 
smilax,  looking  very  gay,  if  long-suffer 
ing  withal. 

"Isn't  old  Queen  beautiful?"  cried 
Hannie. 

"  She  is,"  laughed  Mrs.  Grey,  and 
then  an  idea  flashed  instantly  through  her 
mind.  "  Wouldn't  that  smilax  be  fine 
for  house  decorations!  I  am  going  to 
send  samples  of  it  to  northern  florists!" 
were  her  inward  declarations. 

Next  day  she  had  old  Sam  go  out  to 
the  woods  and  gather  enough  to  make  up 
a  number  of  sample  boxes,  which  she 
shipped  at  once  to  the  dealers  whom  she 
supplied  with  jessamines. 

A  few  days  later  came  a  dispatch  from 
a  Chicago  firm  ordering  a  number  of 
pounds  immediately. 

Mrs.  Grey  had  no  idea  how  to  estimate 
the  weight  of  the  amount  sent  to  this 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    69 

order,  but  she  had  Uncle  Sam  get  out  the 
old  surrey  and  horse  and  she  and  Gene 
drove,  in  fine  spirits,  out  in  the  woods 
for  the  smilax.  They  gathered  beauti 
ful,  graceful  sprays  in  armfuls  and  piled 
them  into  the  surrey  until,  when  they 
started  home,  it  looked  like  a  veritable 
traveling  evergreen. 

Gene  put  out  her  little  hands,  touching 
leaves  everywhere,  and  laughed  in  glee 
as  she  said: 

"  Oh,  mother,  what  will  they  do  with 
all  this?" 

They  hurried  home,  packed  a  big  box 
and  sent  it  off  post-haste.  But  when  a 
letter  came  back  in  equal  haste,  Mts. 
Grey  held  her  breath  at  its  angry  vehe 
mence. 

Then  a  ringing  laugh  followed  as  she 
saw  the  ludicrous  in  it  all.  "  Oh,  Gene 
darling,  they  are  scolding  us  dreadfully," 


70 


she  said  at  last  between  the  ripples  of 
laughter.     "Just  listen: 

"  '  EUGENE  GREY  &  Co., 

"  l  DEAR  SIRS:  — '  "  she  read,  in  the  big 
scary  voice,  laying  a  hand  on  Gene's  as 
it  rested  on  her  knee. 

The  little  girl  was  all  eager  expecta 
tion. 

"  t  You  certainly  know  absolutely  noth 
ing  about  the  flower  business.  I  wired 
you  to  ship  me  -  -  Ibs.  of  your  southern 
smilax,  as  you  call  it,  and  you  sent  me 
barely  a  quarter  of  that  amount.  You 
caused  me  to  disappoint  a  most  valued 
customer.  I  ought  to  withhold  payment 
for  the  miserable  little  lot  you  sent,  but 
here's  your  check. 

"  '  Get  a  move  on  you  now,  won't  you, 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    71 

and  ship  me Ibs.  more  by  return  ex 
press.'  ' 

"Oh,  mother,  isn't  he  mad!"  said 
Gene,  her  small  face  full  of  wonder. 

Mrs.  Grey  fluttered  a  check  happily, 
and  reassured  her  with: 

"  Oh,  we  must  just  get  lots  more  at 
once,  and  next  time  we  must  weigh  it  and 
know  exactly  what  we  are  about." 

A  letter  followed  from  the  firm  in 
New  York  who  had  so  kindly  shown 
them  how  to  pack  cape  jessamines,  and 
it  said,  "  If  you  are  shipping  this  for  the 
first  time,  as  we  judge  from  your  note 
with  sample  box,  we  may  be  able  to  help 
with  suggestion  for  weighing  and  pack 
ing,"  and  then  followed  some  most  help 
ful  hints.  Other  florists  sent  orders  and 
Eugene  Grey  &  Co.  found  themselves 
with  much  business  on  hand.  The  Bios- 


72  The  Blossom  Shop 

som  Shop,  as  they  always  playfully  called 
the  old  place  now,  was  in  much  excite 
ment,  indeed  quite  flustered. 

"  We  must  propitiate  that  Chicago 
man  first,"  said  Mrs.  Grey.  It  was  late 
Friday  afternoon;  she  must  think  fast. 

"  Uncle  Sam,  hitch  up  the  spring 
wagon,  go  up  town  as  quickly  as  you  can 
and  get  me  half  a  dozen  large  goods 
boxes.  Get  them  weighed  and  have  the 
weight  marked  upon  each  one.  Then  to 
morrow  we  will  go  into  the  woods  for 
our  smilax." 

"  Oh,  let  us  go  too,  please,  Mrs.  Grey," 
begged  Hannie  Carter,  who  with  May 
and  Gene  were  playing  within  hearing. 

"  I  am  afraid  there  will  not  be  room 
for  you,"  said  Mrs.  Grey.  "  I  wasn't 
even  going  to  take  Gene,  but  leave  her 
with  you." 

"  That  would  be  nice,"  replied  Hannie 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    73 

a  little  tamely,  "  but  oh,  Mrs.  Grey,  we 
would  go  on  old  Queen,  with  Gene  be 
tween  us,  and  that  would  be  lovely!" 
she  ended  enthusiastically. 

Mrs.  Grey,  looking  into  the  three  little, 
eager  faces,  could  not  refuse,  even  though 
she  felt  it  to  be  too  strictly  a  business  ex 
pedition  for  enjoyment,  so  she  said  at 
last:  "Very  well." 

Uncle  Sam  came  in  later  with  the  big 
boxes  properly  weighed,  and  by  bedtime 
everything  was  made  ready  for  an  early 
start  and  an  all  day  in  the  woods. 

To  Mrs.  Grey's  surprise,  instead  of  the 
Carter  children  coming  on  old  Queen 
next  morning,  they  hailed  her  gaily  from 
the  broad  seat  of  the  big  Carter  wagon 
with  King  and  Queen  in  the  traces,  and 
the  Carters'  man-servant  riding  Queen 
and  driving. 

"  Here    we    are,    Mrs.    Grey.      Do 


74  The  Blossom.  Shop 

p-1-e-a-s-e  let  Gene  come  with  us,"  they 
cried. 

Mrs.  Grey  smiled,  and  murmured 
under  her  breath,  "  I  see,  John  Carter, 
you  are  determined  to  help  me." 

Uncle  Sam  lifted  Gene  to  a  place  be 
tween  Hannie  and  May  who  hugged  her 
rapturously,  and  then  from  beneath  the 
broad  spring-seat  upon  which  they  sat 
came  a  sudden  squawking  cry  of  "  Get 
up,  get  up,"  and  Hannie  and  May  gig 
gled  uncontrollably. 

"  Now,  Polly,"  Hannie  cried  re 
proachfully  when  she  could  speak,  "  we 
told  you  to  keep  still  and  not  let  anybody 
know  you  were  there."  Then  turning  to 
Mrs.  Grey  she  said  with  apologetic 
pleading,  "  Oh,  Mrs.  Grey,  Polly  wanted 
to  come  so  badly  we  just  couldn't  leave 
her.  You  don't  mind,  do  you? "  she 
ended  ingratiatingly,  and  Mrs.  Grey 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    75 

could  only  smile  back  indulgently  as  she 
climbed  into  her  spring  wagon  with 
Uncle  Sam  beside  her. 

She  had  loved  the  woods  all  her  life 
and  knew  just  where  the  smilax  grew 
most  abundantly,  so  after  a  drive  of  two 
or  three  miles  they  halted  in  a  beautiful 
grove  upon  the  bank  of  a  creek.  Every 
where  the  hardy  vine  wove  its  lacy 
beauty.  The  satiny  leaves,  veined  melon- 
like  and  curled  a  bit  at  the  ends,  sprang 
abundantly  from  slender  stems  and  over 
spread  the  ground,  bushes  and  small  trees 
in  riotous  profusion. 

The  children  tumbled  gaily  out  of  the 
big  wagon,  only  Gene  waiting  for  Uncle 
Sam's  help.  Polly  was  lifted  down  last 
in  her  cage,  squawking,  "  Polly  too, 
Polly  too,"  which  was  always  her  cry 
when  the  children  were  starting  any 
where.  They  hung  her  cage  from  a  low 


76  The  Blossom  Shop 

limb  and  she  kept  up  a  constant  chatter 
while  the  children  worked. 

Soon  everybody  was  busy  cutting  the 
long,  beautiful  sprays  of  smilax.  Even 
Gene  had  a  pair  of  scissors,  and  her  little 
fingers  skillfully  traced  a  spray  to  the 
main  stem  or  root  and  clipped  industri 
ously  like  the  rest. 

"  Oh,  there  is  enough  smilax  here  for 
the  whole  world,"  declared  Hannie,  who 
always  saw  things  largely. 

"  What  will  folks  do  with  it,  Mrs. 
Grey?  "  asked  May. 

"  They  will  decorate  their  houses  for 
Christmas,  I  suspect,  and  churches,  too, 
perhaps,"  she  replied. 

"  And  we  can  send  some  to  the  chil 
dren's  hospital,  can't  we,  mother?  "  asked 
Gene  eagerly. 

"  I  think  so,"  returned  Mrs.  Grey. 
"  Little  white  beds  would  be  very  pretty 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    77 

for  Christmas  with  these  vines  around 
them." 

"  Oh,  won't  they?  "  cried  Gene.  "  I 
can  just  see  them!  " 

And  according  to  Mrs.  Browning: 

"  Folded  eyes  see  brighter  colors  than 
the  open  ever  do." 

"  And  oh,  some  of  it  will  be  for  wed 
dings,"  Gene  went  on,  with  certainty, 
ending  fervently,  "I  do  love  weddings! 
I  wish  we  could  have  one  at  our  house." 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Grey,"  began  Hannie,  with 
emphasis,  dropping  her  work  for  a 
minute,  "  you  know  Sally,  the  new  house 
girl  we  had  last  week.  Well,  she  said  one 
night  that  our  papa  might  marry  just  any 
day!  Oh,  I  was  so  mad!  I  didn't  believe 
it,  but  I  asked  her  who,  and  she  said  c  Jes' 
anybody.'  We  told  her  that  it  wasn't  so, 
—  but  we  were  so  scared  it  was  that 


78  The  Blossom  Shop 

we  couldn't  go  to  sleep.  We  read  a 
dreadful  story  about  a  stepmother  once, 
and  we  are  so  afraid  of  'em!  " 

"  Stepmother,  stepmother,"  screamed 
Polly. 

Everybody  stopped  in  astonishment, 
but  Hannie  exclaimed  indignantly,  "  Yes, 
that  mean  Sally  taught  Polly  that,  and 
Mammy  Sue  sent  her  flying  when  she 
found  it  out,  —  she  didn't  wait  for  papa 
to  come  home."  Turning  to  Polly  then, 
she  scolded,  "  Polly  Carter,  if  you  ever 
say  that  again,  we'll  never  take  you  with 
us  anywhere! " 

Polly  knew  she  was  being  seriously  re 
buked,  and  looking  meekly  out  of  the 
corner  of  her  eye,  said  nothing  more  for 
quite  a  time. 

After  a  moment  Hannie  went  on  with 
her  story. 

"  We  just  lay  in  bed  that  night  and 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    79 

cried  and  cried,  and  I  don't  believe  we 
ever  could  have  stopped,  but  at  last  May 
said,  '  Oh,  Hannie,  if  our  papa  does 
marry,  he  may  marry  somebody  just  like 
Mrs.  Grey,'  and  I  was  so  glad  she 
thought  of  that,  and  we  turned  right  over 
and  went  to  sleep." 

It  was  said  with  all  the  frank  inno 
cence  of  childhood,  and  Mrs.  Grey  only 
replied: 

"  That  was  dear  of  you  to  think  of  me 
in  so  kind  a  way." 

The  Carters'  man  worked  with  an  en 
ergy  that  suggested  more  than  a  philan 
thropic  interest  in  the  day's  results;  old 
Sam  was  faithful  as  usual,  and  the  chil 
dren  worked  as  well  as  Mrs.  Grey  would 
allow,  for  she  could  not  let  them  tire 
themselves  out  in  her  behalf,  as  they 
were  quite  ready  to  do.  The  lunch 
spread  on  the  ground  was  delicious,  the 


80  The  Blossom  Shop 

children  had  great  fun  with  Polly,  and 
Hannie  said  when  they  drove  home  in 
the  afternoon,  with  both  wagons  heaped 
with  smilax,  "  it  had  been  a  beautiful 
day!" 

But  Mrs.  Grey's  mind  was  very  busy, 
and  she  could  hardly  pause  for  tempo 
rary  satisfaction.  The  smilax  was  firm, 
would  keep  for  weeks  without  wilting, 
it  was  abundant,  and  judging  from  the 
response  to  samples  already  sent,  would 
find  ready  sale  with  eastern  florists. 

In  the  time  intervening  between  then 
and  Christmas,  Eugene  Grey  &  Co.  must 
go  into  business  on  a  large  scale.  She 
must  hire  hands  and  teams  to  gather  it 
for  her.  She  talked  with  Uncle  Sam  on 
the  way  home. 

"  Miss  Alice,  yer  knows  better'n  I  do, 
er  cou'se,  but  I  can't  see  what  folks  would 
wanter  buy  dat  stuff  fer  what  I  been 


Hurrah  for  The  Blossom  Shop!    81 

tramplin'  on  all  my  life.  I'se  feard 
dey'll  sen'  it  all  back  to  yer  when  they 
gits  a  good  look  at  it,  and  hit'll  cost  a  lot 
o'  money  to  hire  all  de  niggers  an'  teams 
you  er  talkin'  'bout." 

n  Yes,  I  know  it  will  take  money,"  said 
she,  respecting  his  concern,  "  but  I  tell 
you,  Uncle  Sam,  this  thing  we  have 
thought  nothing  of,  because  God  has 
given  it  to  us  most  abundantly,  is  a  beau 
tiful  thing,  —  I  used  some  of  it  last  night 
in  the  library,  and  parlor,  you  know,  and 
didn't  you  see  how  beautiful  it  made  the 
rooms?  " 

"  Yas'm,  Miss  Alice,  yas'm.  I  know 
you  knows  mo'  'bout  dat  den  I  does,"  he 
returned  meekly,  "  an'  I'll  git  de  niggers 
an'  de  teams,  jes'  es  you  say,  er  hopin' 
hit'll  be  all  right." 

Late  as  it  was,  when  they  reached 
home,  they  fell  to  work  packing  boxes 


82  The  Blossom  Shop 

with  the  smilax,  Uncle  Sam  hauled  them 
down  to  the  station,  not  far  away, 
weighed  each  one  and  sent  them  off  that 
night. 

Orders  followed  this  shipment  thick 
and  fast,  and  for  the  next  few  weeks  Mrs. 
Grey  had  scarcely  time  to  think,  with 
the  hands  and  teams  to  keep  occupied  to 
advantage  and  shipments  constantly  to 
make,  while,  as  soon  as  it  became  known 
what  she  was  doing,  the  schools  began  to 
clamor  for  it  for  Christmas  use.  But 
there  was  a  singing  in  her  heart,  as  she 
worked,  "  My  little  girl  will  see,  my 
little  girl  will  see,"  and  she  caught  Gene 
up,  over  and  over,  with  a  gay  "  Hurrah 
for  The  Blossom  Shop!" 

"  Another  good  season  like  this  and  I 
believe  I  can  do  it,  with  the  cape  jessa 
mine  money  added  two  springs  more," 
she  assured  herself  many  times  a  day. 


CHAPTER   VII 

FIRE!  FIRE! 


Ti 


HE  winter  passed  quickly  and  spring 
came  with  the  cape  jessamines  again. 
Mrs.  Grey  and  Gene  walked  among  the 
long  rows  of  wax-like  bushes  with  a 
wealth  of  starry  bloom  and  deep  fra 
grance  unfolding  about  them. 

"  We  can  make  a  fine  shipment  to 
morrow,"  Mrs.  Grey  said;  "  the  best  we 
have  ever  made  at  the  opening  of  a  sea 
son.  We  must  have  extra  help  to-mor 
row,"  she  added,  and  her  voice  was  so 
brisk  and  happy  that  Gene  reflected  her 


"  What  do  the  jessamines  whisper  now, 
mother?  "  she  asked. 


84  The  Blossom  Shop 

"Just  keep  on,  just  keep  on,"  Mrs. 
Grey  laughed,  with  rhythmic  gaiety. 

"  I  wish  I  could  think  just  how  they 
look,"  said  the  little  girl  wistfully.  "  I 
can  think  it  all  except  the  color;  I  can't 
make  my  ringers  feel  that." 

The  mother's  throat  ached  an  instant 
and  then  she  said  softly: 

"  Dearie,  I  do  not  know  how  to  make 
you  feel  the  color  except  to  tell  you  that 
it  seems  to  me  white,  the  beautiful  jessa 
mine  white,  is  God's  color.  His  throne 
is  called  the  great  white  throne,  and  the 
angels  and  all  the  redeemed  in  heaven 
are  clothed  in  white." 

The  little  face  suddenly  lit  up  with  a 
radiance  that  was  surely  not  of  earth. 
"  Oh,  mother,  I  know  now,"  she  said, 
stopping  and  putting  her  hands  together, 
"  for  I  know  how  God  and  the  angels 
look!" 


Fire!    Fire!  85 

How  she  knew  the  mother  did  not 
question.  She  stooped  and  clasped  the 
child  in  tender  reverence. 

"  Now,  mother,  what  is  the  green  of 
the  leaves  like?"  Gene  went  on,  turning 
naturally  to  the  material,  without  know 
ing  that  an  instant  before  she  had  touched 
the  gleaming  heights  of  faith. 

Her  mother  paused  with  a  swift  in 
ward  prayer,  then,  "  Green  is  cool  and 
rugged  and  heavy,  —  beautiful  too,  but 
it  seems  only  made  for  the  background 
of  beautiful  white.  There  is  more  green 
on  earth  than  any  other  color,  and  I  think 
it  is  just  to  make  a  strong  contrast  for 
the  glorious  colors  of  heaven." 

The  child  listened  intently,  then 
thought  a  moment: 

"  The  sky  is  blue,  and  that  is  the  out 
side  of  heaven,  isn't  it?  What  is  blue 
like,  mother?  " 


86  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  It  is  soft  and  pure  and  true;  I  think 
God  made  the  blue  of  the  sky  especially 
for  babies,  that  they  might  catch  the  tint 
as  they  come  through,  for  every  blessed 
baby's  eyes  are  blue,  and  some,  like  my 
little  Gene,  never  lose  it  afterward,"  she 
said  tenderly. 

"  Are  mine  really  still  like  the  sky?  " 
the  child  asked,  sweet  wonder  in  her 
face. 

"  Yes,  dear,  very  like  it,"  but  she  did 
not  add,  "  with  a  mist  of  cloud  upon  it." 

The  child  thought  again. 

"  The  stars  are  little  lights  in  the  sky, 
aren't  they,  mother?  " 

"  Yes,"  Mrs.  Grey  returned,  waiting. 

"  Then  babies  must  get  the  light  for 
their  eyes  to  see  with  from  the  stars,  as 
they  come  through,"  Gene  said  at  last; 
"  I  wonder  why  I  didn't  get  one,"  she 
ended  with  a  little  plaintive  note  in  her 


Fire!    Fire!  87 

voice.  They  had  seldom  talked  of  her 
blindness  and  she  had  never  made  the 
least  complaint. 

"  Oh,  darling,"  murmured  Mrs.  Grey, 
struggling  to  restrain  herself,  "  I  am  sure 
you  did  get  one,  —  but  a  bit  of  a  cloud 
sailing  by  just  then  has  hidden  your  little 
light  for  a  time.  Mother  feels  almost 
sure  that  the  great  doctor  in  New  York 
will  know  how  to  brush  the  cloud  away 
and  let  you  see  like  other  children." 

"  That  will  be  beautiful,  beautiful, 
mother;  I  have  thought  about  it  so  much 
since  we  went  to  see  the  other  doctor,  and 
he  said  I  might  be  made  to  see  some  day, 
—  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  see  any  more, 
as  I  was  at  first.  But,  mother,  I  am  not 
afraid  never  to  see,  either,  if  God  really 
didn't  let  me  get  any  little  light  at  all  as 
I  came  through,"  and  the  small  upturned 
face  was  so  quietly  trustful,  that  though 


88  The  Blossom  Shop 

her  heart  was  breaking,  the  mother  re 
plied- as  quietly: 

"  No,  dearie,  we  will  not  be  in  the  least 
afraid  if  God  withholds  the  light." 

They  went  into  the  house,  a  strange 
foreboding  in  the  mother's  heart  which 
she  found  hard  to  cast  aside.  Twilight 
had  fallen,  and  it  was  soon  Gene's  bed 
time,  and  Mrs.  Grey  rallied  her  spirits 
to  make  it,  as  usual,  a  happy  hour,  suc 
ceeding  at  least  in  hiding  her  depression 
from  Gene,  who  chatted  with  unusual 
gaiety  about  the  lot  of  boxes  they  would 
pack  to-morrow,  and  wondered  if  there 
would  be  a  baby  for  every  box. 

She  was  asleep  at  last.  Then  the  de 
pression  returned  for  Mrs.  Grey. 

Finally,  Sunday  though  it  was,  she  be 
gan  counting  the  probabilities  of  the  in 
come  from  the  jessamines  for  the  season. 
Many  bushes  were  bearing  this  year  that 


Fire!    Fire!  89 

had  not  borne  before.  She  got  her  bank 
book  and  added  the  amount  to  that  al 
ready  to  her  credit. 

She  smiled  with  pleasure,  at  last,  over 
the  goodly  sum,  and  said  to  herself,  "  It 
is  a  shame  for  me  to  be  so  mercenary,  but 
another  year  like  this  and  we  can  go  to 
New  York!" 

Just  then  she  heard  Uncle  Sam  from 
the  yard  cry  out: 

"Good  Gord  A'mighty!"  and  she 
hurried  in  alarm  at  the  frightened  tone 
to  the  back  window  of  her  room. 

She  did  not  need  to  ask  why  that  cry, 
for  the  instant  shutters  were  opened  she 
saw  great  tongues  of  flame  leaping  from 
the  sides  of  the  old  stable,  and  excited 
cries  of  "Fire!  Fire!"  with  hurrying 
feet  about  the  house  were  quickly  added 
to  the  tale  of  terror. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

HANNIE'S  WICKED  WISH 


A  PASSING  cloud,  with  a  gust  of 
wind  blowing  directly  toward  the  house, 
and  no  rain  accompanying,  fanned  the 
flames  from  the  stable  into  fury,  and  in 
an  almost  incredible  space  of  time  great 
fiery  tongues  were  reaching  out  upon  the 
house  itself,  which  was  also  a  frame 
building.  Being  almost  at  an  end  of  the 
long,  straggling  street,  they  were  so  far 
from  the  center  of  the  town  with  its  ama 
teur  fire  company  that  help  from  that 
source  was  too  late  in  coming. 

Mrs.  Grey  ran  quickly  to  and  fro, 
gathering  up  a  few  priceless  things,  feel 
ing  there  was  yet  time  for  this,  when 

90 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  91 

Gene  started  up  from  sleep  with  a  cry  of 
fright. 

"  Oh,  mother,  mother,  what  is  happen 
ing?  Oh,  come  to  me,"  she  pleaded  piti 
fully,  reaching  out  trembling  hands. 

"  Yes,  yes,  darling,"  the  mother  cried, 
running  to  the  child.  "  We  are  all  safe, 
nothing  is  going  to  harm  us.  The  old 
stable  is  burning  down,  that  is  all."  The 
mother's  touch  and  quiet  voice  soothed 
the  child  instantly,  and  then  Mr.  Carter 
strode  into  the  room  without  ceremony 
and  stood  beside  them.  Quietly,  firmly, 
he  said: 

"  You  must  go  at  once,  Alice.  Gene, 
little  girl,  I  am  going  to  wrap  you  up 
and  carry  you  right  over  to  Hannie  and 
May." 

But  the  child  clung  to  her  mother. 

"  Yes,  mother  is  going  too,"  said  he. 
"  Just  bring  what  you  have  here,  Alice, 


92  The  Blossom  Shop 

—  everything  will  be  saved,  I  think,  if 
we  give  the  firemen  right  of  way  here  at 
once,"  and  his  voice  was  so  natural,  so 
cheery,  and  yet  held  such  a  note  of  au 
thority,  that  Mrs.  Grey  did  just  as  he 
bade  her. 

Gene  clung  to  both  as  they  passed 
through  the  glare,  the  heat  and  the  ex 
cited  crowd  across  the  orchard  to  the 
Carter  house.  He  pressed  the  child's 
head  protectingly  to  him,  as  he  went, 
while  Mrs.  Grey  kept  one  little  hand  in 
hers,  carrying  a  few  treasures  in  the 
other. 

He  took  them  at  once  to  a  large  guest 
room  upon  the  second  floor  of  his  home, 
and  when  he  had  laid  the  child  tenderly 
down,  he  turned  to  Mrs.  Grey,  whose 
hand  Gene  still  held  tightly. 

"  Will  you  trust  everything  to  me?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  thank  you,"  she  murmured, 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  93 

for  safety  and  quiet  brought  momentary 
weakness. 

Rallying  quickly  when-  he  was  gone, 
she  sat  down  by  the  bed  talking  to  Gene 
cheerily,  telling  her  little  stories,  —  ab 
surd  little  things  she  had  never  thought 
of  before,  —  while  she  knew  the  dear 
home  of  her  childhood,  and  the  place 
which  held  her  hope  for  the  sight  of  her 
child,  was  burning  to  the  ground.  The 
room  they  were  in  was  on  the  side  of  the 
house  away  from  the  fire,  but  the  roar 
and  shouts  of  men  reached  them  some 
times,  keeping  the  little  hands  in  a 
tension,  while  the  child  exclaimed, 
"  Oh,  mother,  what  is  it? "  again  and 
again. 

At  last  quiet  came  and  Mrs.  Grey 
knew  all  was  over.  The  child  relaxed 
and  fell  asleep,  then  the  mother  went 
out. 


94  The  Blossom  Shop 

Mr.  Carter  was  waiting  at  the  door  for 
her;  how  long  he  had  been  standing 
there  she  did  not  know. 

Instinctively,  she  put  out  a  hand  as  if 
to  parry  a  blow,  and  he  took  it  in  both  of 
his. 

"  Alice,  we  did  the  best  we  could  for 
you,  but  it  was  little,"  he  said,  and  his 
voice  was  low  and  a  bit  unsteady.  He 
waited  a  moment:  "The  old  home  is 
gone,  and  the  cape  jessamines,  I  am 
afraid,  but  we  saved  everything  in  the 
house.  The  furniture  is  stored  in  my 
stable  loft,  the  china,  glassware,  linen 
and  pictures  are  in  the  dining-room,  and 
the  men  are  waiting  now  to  put  your 
trunks  in  the  attic,  if  you  will  show  us 
what  you  want  for  immediate  use." 

He  felt  this  was  well  for  her,  —  the 
having  some  practical  things  at  once  to 
determine. 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  95 

"  You  are  so  good,  I  can  never  thank 
you,"  she  faltered. 

Together  they  went  down-stairs  to  the 
back  door,  where  stood  a  half  dozen 
trunks.  Mrs.  Grey  selected  two  which 
should  go  to  her  room,  while  the  re 
mainder  they  decided  had  best  go  to  the 
attic.  A  couple  of  stout  negroes  who 
were  in  waiting  carried  the  two  up-stairs, 
and  returning  for  the  others  which  were 
to  go  to  the  attic,  picked  up  first  a  big 
brown  trunk  which  Mrs.  Grey  recog 
nized  instantly  as  the  "  mother  Grey 
trunk,"  as  she  had  always  called  it. 

An  unchecked  wave  of  bitterness  swept 
over  her  for  a  moment  as  she  saw  it,  — 
why  could  not  the  worthless  thing  have 
been  burned,  —  it  would  have  been  such 
a  relief,  —  and  she  stepped  recklessly  for 
ward,  her  lips  parted  ready  to  say,  "  I 
don't  care  anything  about  that  trunk  or 


96  The  Blossom  Shop 

what  is  done  with  it,"  then  as  quickly  she 
pressed  them  together  in  the  long  estab 
lished  habit  of  restraint  and  quietly  let 
the  men  pass  on  and  up  the  narrow  flight 
of  back  stairs  to  the  attic. 

But  it  was  an  awkward  as  well  as  a 
narrow  passage,  the  men  were  tired,  and 
a  misstep  from  one  of  them  jerked  the 
trunk  from  the  hands  of  the  other  and 
sent  it  reeling  down  the  steps. 

Mr.  Carter  sprang  forward,  and  broke 
its  fall  at  the  bottom,  preventing  any  pos 
sible  danger  to  Mrs.  Grey,  but  the  re 
curring  blows  against  the  narrow  stair 
way  wall  had  broken  the  hinges  of  the 
trunk. 

"  Now,  men,  that  was  very  careless," 
he  exclaimed,  much  annoyed  that  any 
harm  should  come  to  Mrs.  Grey's  be 
longings  while  under  his  roof. 

"  It  does  not  matter  in  the  least,"  pro- 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  97 

tested  Mrs.  Grey  with  a  vigor  that  made 
Mr.  Carter  look  up  at  her  inquiringly. 
And,  as  she  did  not  stoop  to  restore  some 
bulging  garments  at  the  back  (for  she 
did  not  feel  at  the  moment  that  she  could 
bring  herself  to  touch  them),  he  awk 
wardly  replaced  them  himself,  pushed 
the  lid  tightly  down  and  instructed  the 
men  to  take  it  up  again  with  extreme 
care. 

Had  he  looked  into  Alice  Grey's  face 
as  he  did  so,  he  would  have  been  amazed 
at  the  strange,  almost  mocking  light  in 
her  usually  gentle  eyes  while,  with  head 
erect,  she  watched  that  trunk  being  borne 
up-stairs  and  wished  from  the  depths  of 
her  heart  it  might  somehow  be  dashed 
into  oblivion. 

But  he  did  not  look  at  her  until  the 
trunks  had  all  been  safely  taken  up  and 
stored  away,  then  turning  to  her,  he  found 


98  The  Blossom  Shop 

her  face  only  very  tired  and  worn,  and 
said  cheerily:  « 

"  Now,  Mammy  Sue  has  something 
hot  for  us  to  eat  and  drink,"  and  he  led 
her  into  the  quiet  library,  where  a  little 
table  had  been  spread  with  hot  milk,  hot 
coffee  and  sandwiches.  It  was  after 
twelve  o'clock,  a  new  day  was  about  to 
begin,  —  a  new  day  indeed. 

They  discussed  the  fire  and  Mr.  Carter 
said  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  some 
body  had  slipped  into  the  barn,  probably 
for  the  night,  had  smoked  and  set  fire  to 
it.  Then  he  turned  to  Mammy  Sue,  who 
stood  nearby,  her  plump  form  clad  in  the 
customary  neat,  dark  dress,  with  apron 
and  head-kerchief  of  spotless  white,  all 
undisturbed  by  the  night's  happenings,  - 
quiet,  energetic,  capable  as  usual. 

"  Mammy,  where  are  Hannie  and 
May?  "  he  asked. 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  99 

He  had  left  them  in  her  care  when  they 
all  ran  home  from  church  at  the  cry  of 
fire,  and  knew  they  would  be  safe  in  her 
hands. 

"  I  got  Miss  May  to  sleep  a  while  ago, 
but  Miss  Hannie's  in  de  parlor,  Mars 
John.  I  can't  make  out  what's  the  matter 
wid  her;  she  wouldn't  look  at  the  fire, 
and  ain'  done  nothin'  but  cry  lack  her 
heart  done  broke." 

"  She  is  a  very  tender-hearted  child," 
said  Mr.  Carter,  "  I  guess  this  has  all 
been  too  much  for  her.  I  will  go  and  see 
about  her,"  but  before  he  could  rise  from 
his  seat,  Hannie  ran  in  and  threw  herself 
down  at  Mrs.  Grey's  feet,  sobbing  out: 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Grey,  I  burned  your  house 
down,  —  but  I  didn't  mean  to,  —  I  love 
you  and  Gene  just  like  I  do  papa  and 
May,  and  that  wasn't  what  I  wanted!  " 

It  was  so  incoherent  and  the  sobs  so 


100  The  Blossom  Shop 

tragic  that  both  Mrs.  Grey  and  Mr.  Car 
ter  felt  alarmed. 

"  Why,  Hannie,  darling,"  exclaimed 
Mrs.  Grey,  soothing  the  child  with  eager 
kindness,  "you  did  not  burn  my  house!  " 

"  Oh,  but  I  did!  I  was  so  wicked,  you 
don't  know,"  she  cried,  between  sobs 
again. 

Then  Mr.  Carter  picked  her  up  from 
the  floor  in  his  arms,  smoothed  her  hair 
gently,  and  said  steadily: 

"  Now,  daughter,  tell  us  all  about  it. 
What  did  you  burn  Mrs.  Grey's  house 
with,  a  match  or  a  firecracker,  —  but  I 
forget  it  is  not  Fourth  of  July  or  Christ 
mas,  and  you  are  not  a  boy." 

The  bit  of  humor  helped  to  steady  her, 
and  after  a  moment  she  sat  up  and  told 
them  all  about  it: 

"  I  went  to  church  with  papa,"  the 
shaking  voice  began,  "  and  oh,  I  got  so 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  101 

sleepy  I  couldn't  stay  awake.  I  just 
thought  I'd  die,  I  was  so  sleepy,"  she  said 
tragically,  "  and  I  began  to  wish  some 
thing  would  happen  to  make  church  stop. 
I  just  wished  for  a  big  fire,  or  anything 
dreadful  that  would  stop  church  and  let 
me  go  home.  Then  the  fire-bells  rang 
and  everybody  was  excited  and  stopped 
church  sure  enough,  and,  and,  —  it  was 
Mrs.  Grey's  house  I  got  burned  down! 
You  see  I  had  really  prayed  for  the  fire," 
she  ended  in  a  whisper. 

There  was  a  pause  that  was  almost 
tragic  with  suppressed  mirth,  for'  Mr. 
Carter  looked  at  Mrs.  Grey,  his  eyes 
a-twinkle,  and  she  in  quick  reaction, 
which  is  so  easy  after  excitement,  could 
hardly  control  herself.  But  Mr.  Carter's 
voice  kept  steady. 

"  Well,  now,  daughter,  that  was  not 
quite  right,  to  wish  something  to  burn 


102  The  Blossom  Shop 

down,  so  as  to  get  you  out  of  the  church, 
because  you  were  so  dreadfully  sleepy, 
but  I  am  sure  that  God  did  not  answer 
your  prayer  by  burning  Mrs.  Grey's 
house,  for  I  am  pretty  certain  the  spark 
dropped  in  the  old  stable  before  you  even 
got  sleepy." 

Hannie  had  the  utmost  confidence  in 
her  father  and  the  burden  of  trouble 
rolled  from  her  young  heart  instantly. 

"  Dearest  papa,  I  am  so  glad,  so  glad, 
and  I  will  never  make  a  wicked  wish  like 
that  again,  if  I  just  die"  she  declared 
fervently. 

Mr.  Carter  and  Mrs.  Grey  allowed 
themselves  unrestrained  laughter  at  this, 
which  did  them  all  good,  and  Hannie  in 
happy  reaction  said: 

"  Oh,  papa,  we  will  keep  Mrs.  Grey 
and  Gene  always  now,  won't  we?  And 
then  I  can  make  up  for  my  wicked  wish 


Hannie's  Wicked  Wish  103 

by  showing  them  every  day  how  I  love 
them." 

"  Yes,  indeed,  daughter,"  Mr.  Carter 
returned  gently. 


W  HEN  the  house  was  at  last  quiet, 
everyone  having  lain  down  to  rest,  if  not 
to  sleep,  Mammy  Sue  marshalled  the 
housemaids,  declaring  she  "  wan'  gwine 
to  leave  her  dinin'-room  lack  dat,"  and 
with  her  efficient  generalship  they  stored 
all  Mrs.  Grey's  china,  silver  and  glass 
ware  in  the  pantries,  which  were  at  that 
season  comparatively  empty  of  the  winter 
stores  of  preserves,  pickles  and  jellies. 
The  family  portraits  belonging  to  Mrs. 
Grey  were  arranged  around  the  walls  on 
the  floor  and  everything  put  in  comfort 
able  order  for  breakfast  to  be  served 
later. 

104 


A  Blossom  ^Spared  105 

It  was  quite  late  indeed  when  the 
household  gathered  for  the  morning 
meal. 

Mrs.  Grey's  feet  were  weighted  when 
she  tried  to  rise,  for  she  had  not  slept,  and 
despair  had  tugged  constantly  at  her 
heart.  Where  should  she  go?  What 
should  she  do?  It  would  probably  take 
every  cent  she  had  saved  to  locate  anew. 
There  had  been  no  insurance  on  the 
house,  for  it  had  not  seemed  possible  that 
fire  could  ever  reach  the  quiet  old  place, 
and  she  had  felt  that  she  could  not  well 
spare  the  money  from  her  fund  to  keep 
up  the  dues. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  wait  for  cape 
jessamines  to  grow  again,  while  she  sat 
idle;  she  must  find  something  else  to  do. 
These  thoughts,  with  the  old  bitter  ones 
freshly  astir,  kept  up  a  ceaseless  weary 
round,  which  even  the  night  ecstasy  of  a 


106  The  Blossom  Shop 

nearby  mocking  bird  could  not  break,  till, 
with  the  depression  of  early  morning 
hours,  her  brain  was  numb.  When  the 
sun  streamed  in  and  Gene  started  up  in 
bed  at  last,  fear  and  excitement  springing 
upon  her  waking  heart  like  lingering 
spirits  of  the  night's  terror,  it  required 
all  the  mother's  strength  and  will  to 
keep  her  touch  steady  and  her  voice 
reassuring  for  those  sensitive  little 
ears. 

"  Mother,  is  it  all  so?  Is  our  house 
gone,  all  gone,  and  the  cape  jessamines 
too?" 

"  Yes,  sweetheart,  it  is  all  true." 

"  What  are  we  going  to  do,  mother?  " 
queried  the  child  in  an  awed  voice. 

"  Oh,  we  won't  try  to  say  before  break 
fast,"  returned  Mrs.  .Grey  with  a  wan 
attempt  at  gaiety,  which  only  made  the 
small  hands  tighten  their  grasp  of  hers. 


A  Blossom  Spared  107 

"  Mother  will  plan  everything,  darling, 
pretty  soon;  you  need  not  be  afraid,"  she 
ended  desperately,  reaching  out  for  hope 
and  courage,  and  succeeding  so  well  that 
the  little  one  relaxed,  in  the  habitual,  per 
fect  trust  of  her  mother.  So  it  was  that 
Mrs.  Grey  went  bravely  down  to  break 
fast  to  talk  over  all  the  details  of  the  pre 
vious  night  with  cheerful  interest  which 
betrayed  not  in  the  least  .the  night's 
despair.  Mr.  Carter  seated  her  opposite 
himself  at  the  table,  seemingly  as  a  mat 
ter-of-course  courtesy,  but  Uncle  Sam, 
looking  in  at  the  dining-room  door 
during  the  meal,  drew  back  smiling,  and 
encountering  Mammy  Sue  a  moment 
later,  he  chuckled: 

"  Anybody  kin  see  dat  he's  mighty  sat 
isfied  wid  her  a-settin'  at  de  head  er  his 
table." 

"  Go   'long  wid   yer,"   sharply   repri- 


108  The  Blossom  Shop 

manded  Mammy  Sue.  "  Yer  can't  think 
er  nothin'  but  folks  gittin'  married,"  she 
added  with  a  scornful  significance  that 
suggested  a  possibility  that  the  subject 
of  matrimony  had  been  warmly  and  prob 
ably  unsuccessfully  discussed  by  the  two 
at  some  previous  time. 

Uncle  Sam  went  off  at  this,  and  his 
smile  soon  faded,  while  he  muttered  to 
himself: 

"  I  shorely  wishes  she'd  stay  dar,  kase 
I  mought  drap  off  sometime.  I  feels 
mighty  lack  it  dis  mornin',  an'  den  who's 
gwine  ter  tek  care  on  her?  "  he  ended 
wearily.  Sighing,  he  went  on:  "  She 
ain'  gwine  ter  do  it,  though  he  been 
wantin'  her  dis  long  time,  —  yer  can't 
fool  me,  but  her  head's  dess  as  high  up 
as  ever.  She's  feared  little  Miss  Gene 
mought  be  a  burden  ter  him.  I  knows 
her."  And  he  shook  his  head  gloomily 


A  Blossom  Spared  109 

as  he  sat  down  on  the  cabin  door-steps  to 
wait  till  Miss  Alice  was  through  break 
fast. 

Finally  she  came  out  alone,  Hannie 
and  May  having  taken  possession  of 
Gene,  and  faced  the  ruins  of  her  beloved 
home,  as  she  did  so,  the  blackened  chim 
neys  standing  like  grim  spectres  on  guard, 
and  Uncle  Sam's  cabin  the  only  building 
remaining. 

The  old  darky  still  sat  dejectedly  on 
the  door-steps,  his  head  down,  and  did 
not  see  his  mistress  till  she  stood  before 
him. 

Then  he  started  clumsily  up  at  sight 
of  her  pale,  quivering  face,  and  it  was  all 
she  could  do  to  keep  from  throwing  her 
self  into  the  old  negro's  arms  and  sobbing 
out  her  despair. 

He  reached  his  hands  toward  her  an 
instant,  and  then  seeing  her  steady  her- 


110  The  Blossom  Shop 

self  against  the  door-frame,  he  remarked 
in  a  matter-of-fact  way: 

"  I  thought  I'd  jes'  clean  up  the  litter 
'round  the  ole  place  ter-day,  Miss  Alice; 
dey  certainly  did  tromple  things  pretty 
bad  las'  night." 

She  looked  at  him  gratefully,  and  re 
plied: 

"  All  right,  Uncle  Sam,  do  whatever 
you  think  best  to-day.  I  know  you  must 
be  tired  from  last  night;  don't  try  to  do 
too  much.  I  guess  I  am  tired  too,  for  I 
can't  seem  to  think  much  yet." 

"  Co'se  you  is,  honey,"  said  the  old 
man  with  irrepressible  tenderness,  "  an' 
don't  you  worry  none,  Miss  Alice,  'cause 
we's  goin'  ter  git  erlong  all  right." 

Then  she  went  into  the  house  and  up 
to  her  room  in  an  effort  to  think  com 
posedly  for  awhile  before  friends  began 
to  come  in,  for  she  knew  they  would 


A  Blossom  Spared  111 

flock  about  her  when  the  early  hours 
were  passed,  and  there  would  be  homes 
opened  to  her  without  number,  to  some 
one  of  which  she  must  go  temporarily, 
for  it  would  not  do,  she  felt,  to  remain 
long  where  she  was. 

But  when  Mammy  Sue  came  up  an 
hour  later  to  announce  callers  she  found 
Mrs.  Grey  suffering  intolerably  with 
headache,  and  gently  put  her  to  bed  as 
she  would  have  done  a  sick  child. 

Mrs.  Grey  was  not  subject  to  head 
aches,  which  made  the  throbbing  pain 
all  the  harder  to  bear.  She  could  do 
nothing  but  obey  the  wise  old  Mammy, 
and  thought  was  impossible  for  the  time. 

The  children  were  kept  away  and  the 
competent  negress  used  simple  restora 
tives,  but  by  noon  there  was  no  relief, 
and  when  Mr.  Carter  came  in  for  lunch 
and  learned  the  state  of  things,  he  sent 


112  The  Blossom  Shop 

at  once  for  Mrs.  Grey's  physician.  The 
doctor  ordered  perfect  quiet,  lest  brain 
fever  develop,  and  though  friends  con 
tinued  to  call,  no  one  saw  her  for  several 
days.  The  rebelling  head  did  not  yield 
to  treatment  for  two  days,  and  then  the 
patient  lay  white  and  spent  for  two  days 
more. 

Mr.  Carter  chafed  under  the  conven 
tionality  which  denied  him  the  right  to 
go  and  minister  to  her,  even  as  he  would 
have  done  to  his  own  sister.  But  for  her 
sake  he  did  not  enter  the  sick-room, 
though  he  often  noiselessly  paced  the 
floor  just  outside. 

Hannie  and  May  did  not  need  his  ad 
monitions  to  keep  Gene  occupied  and  in 
terested,  but  devoted  themselves  to  the 
little  girl  every  moment,  Hannie  still 
with  a  somewhat  contrite  heart,  for  she 
could  not  forget  that  awful  wish. 


A  Blossom  Spared  113 

They  played  all  sorts  of  games,  they 
rode  old  Queen,  with  Uncle  Sam  in  faith 
ful  attendance,  they  frolicked  with  the 
parrot,  they  read  stories,  but  nevertheless 
the  small  shut-in  world  of  the  little  sight 
less  child  was  reeling.  The  hills  no 
longer  untied  their  bonnets,  the  bobo 
links  were  gone  from  the  mornings,  and 
the  little  yellow  boys  and  girls  had  left 
the  purple  sunset  stile.  Gene  had  never 
known  her  mother  to  be  sick  before, 
and  her  life-anchor  was  beyond  reach  in 
that  strange,  quiet  sick-room.  She  also 
missed  the  touch  of  dear  doors  and  fur 
niture,  and  though  familiar  with  the 
Carter  house  for  happy  visiting  times, 
it  was  not  a  part  of  her  being,  like  the 
old  home.  When  she  tried  to  take  a  step 
alone,  fear  clutched  her  little  heart. 

She  asked  on  the  second  day  that  she 
might  sit  by  mother  just  a  little  and  hold 


114  The  Blossom  Shop 

her  hand.  "  I  will  not  say  a  word,"  she 
said  with  pathetic  intensity,  and  the  pain 
being  somewhat  less,  Mrs.  Grey  begged 
too  that  she  might  come  for  a  little 
while. 

When  Mammy  Sue  finally  parted  the 
clinging  fingers  she  led  the  little  girl  to 
the  next  room,  where  Hannie  and  May 
were  waiting  for  her. 

"  May,  you  and  Gene  play  (  Hull- 
gull,'  "  said  Hannie. 

"  Goody,  goody,"  cried  May,  dancing 
away  for  the  beans  they  used  for  the 
game,  and  then  dividing  them  equally 
between  herself  and  Gene. 

"You  first,  Gene,"  directed  Hannie, 
and  Gene  obediently  turned  her  back 
while  she  selected  a  part  of  her  store 
which  she  doubled  up  in  her  little  fist, 
and  then  began  the  usual: 

"  Hull-gull." 


A  Blossom  Spared  115 

"  Hand  full,"  cried  May,  in  gay  re 
sponse. 

"  How  many,"  said  Gene. 

After  long  deliberation  and  elabo 
rate  efforts  to  peek  into  the  closed  fist, 
May  guessed,  "  Five!  " 

Gene  opened  her  hand  then,  and 
showed  only  one  small  bean  in  the  palm. 

"  Give  me  four  to  make  it  so,"  she  said. 

Then  it  was  May's  time  to  choose  a 
few  of  her  beans,  double  her  fist  and  cry, 
"  Hull-gull,"  to  which  Gene  returned 
the  "  Hand  full,"  and  May  came  back 
with  the  gay  question,  "  How  many?  " 
But  there  was  no  excited  "  peeking  "  this 
time,  as  there  usually  was  by  the  clever 
little  sensitive  fingers,  and  the  guess  of 
"  nine,"  was  simply  mechanical,  but  it 
proved  to  be  just  the  correct  number  of 
beans  which  May's  hand  held,  and  so 
they  were  all  turned  over  to  the  success- 


116  The  Blossom  Shop 

ful  little  guesser,  with  much  make-be 
lieve  mourning  on  the  part  of  May,  and 
gay  clapping  of  hands  from  Hannie. 

But  Gene  could  not  enter  joyfully  into 
the  loved  game  which  she  usually  played 
with  so  much  zest,  and  seeing  this,  the 
girls  looked  at  her  disconsolately,  then 
May  brightened  with  a  sudden  happy 
thought. 

"  Let's  go  to  the  stable  and  see  the 
puppies!  " 

And  taking  Gene  by  the  hands,  the  two 
children  led  her  away  to  see  two  roly, 
poly  gray  puppies  which  were  a  late  and 
most  interesting  acquisition.  Nobody 
could  resist  Spot  and  Dot!  When  they 
were  down-stairs  they  found  that  the 
puppies  had  been  brought  to  the  wood 
shed  back  of  the  kitchen,  being  now 
strong  enough  to  leave  their  bed  in  the 
stable  and  take  a  more  active  part  in  life. 


A  Blossom  Spared  117 

The  delight  of  the  children  was  great 
over  this,  but  the  next  instant  they  were 
filled  with  consternation  to  see  Polly 
with  ruffled  feathers  standing  beside 
them. 

"  Oh,  she  will  scratch  their  eyes  out!  " 
cried  Hannie.  "  Who  did  let  you  come 
here?  "  she  scolded,  turning  to  the  parrot. 

But  Polly  was  a  much  privileged 
character,  and  bridling,  she  squawked, 
"  My  pups,  my  pups!  " 

The  children  laughed  delightedly  at 
this,  and  Uncle  Sam,  appearing  at  the 
door,  said,  "  Wait  and  see  what  she  gwine 
do.  I  ain'  gwine  let  her  hurt  urn." 

So  Hannie  and  May  watched  breath 
lessly. 

Polly  waddled  close  to  the  two  pup 
pies,  continuing  to  say  in  soft,  crooning 
fashion,  "  My  pups,  my  pups,"  while  she 
gently  took  in  her  beak  a  bit  of  hair  upon 


118  The  Blossom  Shop 

the  back  of  one  and  caressingly  rubbed 
her  throat  upon  his  soft  coat! 

"Oh!  Oh!"  exclaimed  Hannie  and 
May  together. 

"  She  loves  them,"  declared  Hannie  at 
last,  and  stooping,  she  put  her  arms  about 
Gene  and  told  her  the  wonderful  news  of 
how  Polly  had  adopted  the  puppies 
when  they  had  been  so  afraid  to  even  let 
her  see  them  lest  she  put  their  eyes  out  or 
hurt  them  in  some  way! 

But  the  exciting  tale  brought  only  a 
wan  smile  to  Gene's  face. 

Uncle  Sam  looked  at  her  in  quick 
alarm,  and  said  peremptorily: 

"  You  all  go  on  out  in  de  sunshine,  I's 
gwine  to  put  Polly  in  her  cage  now." 

And  Hannie  and  May,  feeling  the 
little  girl's  depression  indefinably,  took 
her  by  the  hand  and  led  her  aimlessly 
out. 


A  Blossom  Spared  119 

Suddenly  Gene  stood  still,  dropped 
their  hands  and  clasping  hers,  cried  with 
quivering  lips,  "  I  want  to  go  home. 
Please  take  me  there!" 

"  Oh,  Gene,"  begged  Hannie,  dis 
tressed,  "  don't  go  over  there." 

Somehow  the  happy,  care-free  girl 
knew  that  there  would  be  peculiar  pain 
for  the  little  blind  child  if  she  went 
among  the  ruins,  and  they  had  kept  away, 
when  curiosity  under  ordinary  condi 
tions  would  have  led  them  there. 

"  But,"  opposed  Gene,  setting  the 
quivering  lips  in  new,  strangely  strong 
lines,  "  I  must  find  out  what  '  burned 
up  '  means.  I've  just  got  to  know,"  she 
added  tensely. 

The  children  protested  no  longer,  but 
led  her  over  to  the  old  place. 

"  Here  is  where  the  house  was,"  said 
Hannie,  stopping,  and  Gene  stooped 


120  The  Blossom  Shop 

down,  touching  the  soft  ashes  timidly 
but  with  determination,  again  and  again. 
Then  she  stood  and  thought,  her  small, 
pathetic  face  a  mystery  to  the  children. 

At  last  she  spoke,  reaching  for  Han- 
nie's  hand: 

"  Take  me  where  our  room  was,"  and 
the  children  found  the  corner  of  the 
house  where  Mrs.  Grey  and  Gene  had 
slept.  Next  they  hunted  out  the  parlor, 
then  the  library,  the  porches,  the  dining- 
room,  etc.,  going  all  around  the  ruins 
many  times,  Hannie  and  May  trying  to 
fit  the  various  apartments  into  what  now 
seemed  a  very  small  space,  and  Gene 
touched  each  tall  chimney  with  trem 
bling  fingers. 

Then  she  said,  "  I  want  to  see  the  cape 
jessamines  now."  They  led  her  to  the 
charred  and  blackened  bushes  and  she 
dropped  the  children's  guiding  hands. 


A  Blossom  Spared  121 

She  put  out  her  own,  as  she  was  wont  to 
do  when  hunting  blossoms,  and  at  the 
first  touch  of  shriveled,  charred  stubs, 
she  drew  back  with  a  quick,  frightened 
sob. 

Hannie  stopped  instantly.  "  Oh,  Gene, 
don't  touch  them.  I  can't  bear  to  have 
you,"  she  pleaded. 

"  But  I  must,"  declared  the  child  with 
that  strange  firmness  again,  which  held 
them  in  awe. 

Again  the  little  groping  hands  went 
out,  this  time  more  determinedly,  and 
they  followed  persistently,  row  after  row 
of  ruined  shrubs.  At  last,  as  she  stooped 
and  felt  beneath  a  large  bush  near  the 
gate,  she  gave  a  joyful  cry,  and  her  face 
was  transformed. 

"  I  have  found  one,"  cried  the  coura 
geous  little  head  of  the  old  firm,  and  her 
fingers  indeed  clung  to  the  stem  of  a  wee 


122  The  Blossom  Shop 

blossom,  which  had  escaped  the  scorch 
ing  heat. 

White  and  beautiful  it  was,  and  joy 
fully  Hannie  broke  the  stem  for  her. 

"  I  will  take  this  to  mother,  and  she 
will  see  they  are  not  all  burned  up. 
Then  she  won't  feel  so  bad,"  cried  the 
child,  reacting  in  a  transport  of  delight. 

The  hearts  of  the  little  friends 
bounded  with  hers  and  together  they 
went,  joyfully,  back  to  the  Carter  home. 

Mammy  Sue  let  them  all  in  for  a  mo 
ment,  seeing  their  happy  faces  at  the 
door. 

Relief  from  suffering  had  come  to 
Mrs.  Grey  in  the  last  hour,  and  when  she 
saw  the  perfect  starry  white  blossom  in 
Gene's  hand,  it  seemed  a  messenger  of 
hope,  and  grateful  tears  filled  her  eyes, 
even  before  the  radiant  little  girl  eagerly 
proclaimed: 


A  Blossom  Spared  123 

"  Oh,  mother,  they  are  not  all  dead ; 
here  is  a  dear  baby  blossom  to  tell  us  they 
will  bloom  again."  They  had  always 
had  much  pretty  sentiment  about  the  jes 
samines.  They  had  told  the  last  blossom 
good-by  each  year,  and  welcomed,  joy 
fully,  the  first  newcomer  as  the  little 
white  herald  of  a  glad  return. 

"  We  can  have  our  Blossom  Shop 
again,"  she  ended  in  ecstatic  climax. 

"  Yes,  they  are  truly  alive,  some,"  put 
in  Hannie  quickly,  "  but  you  will  stay 
here  with  us  anyway,  won't  you,  Mrs. 
Grey?  "  she  ended  anxiously,  feeling  that 
if  the  cape  jessamines  were  really  alive  it 
might  somehow  take  the  two  she  loved 
away  again. 

Mrs.  Grey  smiled  weakly  and  said,  in 
definitely,  but  warmly,  "  You  are  a  dear 
girl  to  want  us  to  stay." 

Gossip  rarely  tainted  the  quiet  refine- 


124  The  Blossom  Shop 

ment  of  that  little  old  college  town  where 
the  Greys  and  the  Carters  lived,  and 
Mammy  Sue  jealously  guarded  the  ears 
of  her  young  charges,  so  Hannie  little 
thought  there  might  be  impropriety  in 
Mrs.  Grey's  remaining  there,  while  mar 
riage  between  their  father  and  the 
woman  they  loved  so  dearly  was  an  un 
dreamed-of  possibility  for  the  innocent 
children. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  BROKEN  -  HINGED  TRUNK 

1  HINGS  were  brighter  after  this. 
Gene  watched  by  the  hour  through  Han- 
nie  and  May's  excited  exclamations 
while  Polly  strutted  about  her  pups,  as 
she  continued  to  call  them,  having  taken 
complete  possession  of  Dot  and  Spot, 
who,  in  turn,  accepted  her  with  great 
serenity.  She  scolded  and  petted  them 
with  all  the  privilege  of  motherhood,  and 
the  children  thought  they  had  never 
found  anything  so  funny. 

Two  days  passed  happily,  and  then 
Mrs.  Grey,  having  grown  much  stronger, 
was  sitting  upon  the  long  front  piazza 
when  Mr.  Carter  came  home  in  the  eve- 

125 


126  The  Blossom  Shop 

ning.  She  was  alone  and  his  face  lit  up 
with  pleasure  at  the  sight  of  her,  looking 
more  beautiful  in  her  frailty,  he  thought, 
than  she  had  ever  done  in  her  buoyant 
strength.  Striding  up  the  steps  he  stood 
before  her,  letting  his  eyes  say  what  was 
denied  touch  or  speech. 

Then,  looking  about  inquiringly,  he 
asked:  "Where  are  the  children?" 

"  With  the  parrot  and  the  puppies," 
she  smiled. 

"  Of  course,"  he  exclaimed,  laughing 
heartily.  "  I  might  have  known  it." 
Then,  turning  to  her  again,  his  face  grew 
sober  with  tender  yearning. 

"  Forgive  me,  Alice,  but  God  has  sent 
you  and  Gene  to  me,  —  don't  you  see?" 
he  said  at  last. 

Her  face  quivered  an  instant,  then  she 
returned  brokenly: 

"  No,  no,  John,  you  are  wrong.     I  do 


The  Broken-Hinged  Trunk       127 

not  understand  why  this  dreadful  thing 
happened,  but  it  does  not  change  any 
thing,  except  to  make  it  harder  for  me  to 
do  as  you  wish." 

He  looked  down  upon  her  a  moment 
more,  his  face  full  of  sudden  pain,  for  he 
had  hoped,  believed,  she  might  come  to 
him  in  her  desolation.  Then  he  turned 
without  a  word  and  went  in. 

Next  day,  as  Mrs.  Grey  moved  about 
her  room,  trying  to  gather  strength  to 
take  up  the  problem  of  her  life,  at  least 
enough  to  make  immediate  plans,  Han- 
nie  and  May  came  running  in  with  Gene 
between  them. 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Grey,"  began  Hannie, 
"  won't  you  please  let  us  dress  up  in  some 
of  the  old  things  you've  got  in  your 
trunks  in  our  attic?  The  puppies  are 
asleep  and  Polly  scolds  if  we  wake  them 
up,  so  we  want  to  play  lady.  We've 


128  The  Blossom  Shop 

dressed  up  in  our  old  things  so  many 
times,  we  are  tired  of  them  all,  —  it's  no 
fun  any  more." 

Mrs.  Grey  thought  a  moment. 

"  Why,  yes,  Hannie,"  she  said,  "  there 
is  an  old  trunk  up  there  with  broken 
hinges;  it  is  locked  and  the  key  is  gone, 
but  you  can  lift  the  lid  from  the  back. 
You  can  get  anything  you  want  from  it 
and  dress  up  in  them  if  you  like." 

"  Oh,  thank  you,"  cried  Hannie,  and 
they  all  scampered  away  in  high  glee,  for 
dressing  in  grown-up  things  and  "  play 
ing  lady "  was  the  dearest  play  they 
knew. 

Up  the  stairs  they  flew  and  began  at 
once  examining  the  hinges  of  Mrs.  Grey's 
trunks. 

"  Oh,  here's  the  one,"  cried  May,  and 
Hannie,  running  to  her,  found  she  had  in 
deed  reached  the  trunk  with  broken 


The  Broken-Hinged  Trunk       129 

hinges.  They  lifted  the  lid  from  the 
back,  and  taking  out  some  things,  ex 
claimed  "  Oh!  Oh!  "  in  delight,  for  they 
were  very  nice,  and  promised  wonderful 
possibilities. 

"  I'll  wear  this  velvet  dress  and  be  a 
queen,"  announced  Hannie. 

"  And  I'm  going  to  wear  this  silk,  and 
be  a  princess,"  cried  May. 

Then  Hannie  stopped  a  minute  in 
doubt.  "  But,  I  don't  believe  we  ought 
to  take  the  very  nicest  things;  Mrs.  Grey 
might  want  them  some  time." 
•  Gene  stood  by,  looking  a  little  puzzled, 
but  she  said  at  last: 

"  You  know  mother  told  us  we  could 
have  anything  in  it,"  and  so  they  selected 
what  pleased  them,  but  Hannie  finally 
decided  to  forego  being  queen  because 
velvet  was  so  hot,  and  chose  a  simple 
house-gown  of  soft  material. 


130  The  Blossom  Shop 

Gene  had  only  a  skirt  on,  she  was  so 
little,  and  it  was  tucked  deeply  in  at  the 
waist  in  front  so  she  could  step,  but 
trailed  most  beautifully  behind,  as  did 
both  Hannie's  and  May's  dresses,  while 
they  held  them  up  in  front. 

They  all  minced  around  delightedly, 
called  upon  one  another  and  went  to 
parties.  Hannie  found  a  pocket  in  her 
gown  and  frequently  drew  her  handker 
chief  out  or  replaced  it  with  great  dainti 
ness.  Finally  she  noticed  a  folded  paper 
in  the  pocket,  and  drawing  it  out,  spread 
it  open  with  natural  curiosity: 

"  To  Mrs.  Eugene  Grey,"  it  began. 

"  Oh,  this  is  something  of  Mrs.  Grey's; 
maybe  she's  forgotten  she  ever  put  it 
here,"  said  Hannie.  "  Let's  take  it  to 
her,"  and  the  three  went  tripping  down 
stairs  with  as  much  speed  as  their  long 
trains  would  permit. 


The  Broken-Hinged  Trunk       131 

Mrs.  Grey  looked  up  in  astonishment, 
when  they  came  frisking  in. 

"  Why,  children,  what  have  you  been 
into?  "  she  said  bewildered,  the  finery  in 
which  they  were  arrayed  being  totally, 
unknown  to  her. 

"  Why,  just  the  trunk  with  the  broken 
hinges,  like  you  told  us,"  replied  Hannie, 
forgetting  the  paper  for  a  moment. 

"  I  don't  understand,"  said  Mrs.  Grey. 
"  The  trunk  I  meant  was  an  old  green 
trunk  with  broken  hinges." 

"  This  wasn't  a  green  trunk,"  admitted 
Hannie  slowly;  "  it  was  brown,  —  but  it 
had  broken  hinges,  just  as  you  said." 

"Yes'm,  it  did,"  declared  May  ear 
nestly,  "  and  we  opened  it  from  the 
back." 

"A  brown  trunk, — why,  that  must 
have  been  Mother  Grey's  trunk,"  Mrs. 
Grey  said,  a  light  dawning  upon  her,  as 


132  The  Blossom  Shop 

she  looked  again  at  the  strange  garments. 
"  I  remember  now,  —  the  hinges  were 
broken  the  night  of  the  fire,"  she  con 
cluded,  finally  solving  the  whole  mys 
tery. 

Then  Hannie,  relieved,  thought  of  the 
paper  she  had  found  in  the  pocket. 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Grey,  see,"  she  said,  "  here 
is  a  letter  which  I  got  out  of  the  pocket 
in  this  dress.  I  opened  it  before  I 
thought  what  it  might  be,  and  it's  yours." 

Mrs.  Grey  took  it  in  bewildered  sur 
prise,  and  the  revelation  of  the  first  few 
lines  made  her  sink  weak  and  trembling 
in  a  chair. 

"  Go,  children,"  she  managed  to  say, 
"  go  on  and  play." 

They  turned  away  wondering,  but  as 
she  summoned  a  smile  when  they  looked 
back  from  the  door,  they  went  off  hap 
pily. 


The  Broken-Hinged  Trunk       133 

When  alone  she  spread  the  paper  out 
upon  her  lap  and  tried  to  take  in  the  con 
tents. 

"  To  MRS.  EUGENE  GREY,"  it  read : 
"  I  shall  soon  stand  before  the  bar  of 
God  and  to  die  in  peace,  I  must  acknowl 
edge  that  I  treated  my  son  with  undue 
harshness,  and  that  I  have  been  unjust  to 
you  and  your  child.  My  last  will  and 
testament,  which  I  shall  this  night  dictate 
to  my  beloved  wife  (who  is  alone  with 
rrm  in  these,  my  dying  hours)  will  make 
some  amends  to  you  and  your  child. 
"  Your  father, 

"JAMES  GREY." 

Upon  another  sheet  folded  with  it,  was 
the  will,  all  written  in  the  delicate,  pre 
cise  handwriting  of  Her  husband's  mother 
which  she  remembered  see  well,  and 


134  The  Blossom  Shop 

signed  by  James  Grey  in  an  uncertain 
but  legible  hand. 

The  will  gave  and  bequeathed  half  of 
his  estate  to  his  wife  and  half  to  his  son's 
wife  and  child  to  be  held  by  the  said  son's 
wife  and  child  jointly.  Upon  the  death 
of  his  wife  the  entire  estate  would  revert 
to  his  son's  wife  and  child  unless  the  wife 
should  die  or  contract  a  second  marriage, 
when  it  would  revert  entirely  to  the 
child.  In  the  event  of  the  early  death  of 
all  three  a  fund  for  charitable  purposes 
was  to  be  created.  His  sister  he  omitted 
from  any  bequest  with  the  statement  that 
she  was  already  abundantly  provided  for. 
Both  documents  bore  the  date  of  the 
death  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Grey. 

Mrs.  Grey  read  and  re-read  it,  trying 
to"  grasp  the  full  meaning.  The  language 
was  so  simple  it  could  not  be  misunder 
stood,  and  the  incidents  of  her  father-in- 


The  Broken-Hinged  Trunk       135 

law's  sudden  death,  and  his  wife's  imme 
diately  following  as  she  knelt  beside  him 
alone,  on  that  last  tragic  night,  made 
everything  very  clear.  The  brief  letter 
and  will  had  evidently  been  thrust  in  the 
pocket  of  her  gown  when  written,  as  she 
turned  to  minister  to  him  in  his  last  mo 
ments,  and  ere  aid  came  to  them,  she,  too, 
had  passed  into  the  great  beyond  with 
the  letter  and  will  lying  unsuspected  in 
her  pocket. 

A  will  written  some  years  before  had 
been  probated,  which  left  his  entire  es 
tate  to  his  sister,  Martha  Grey,  and  she, 
conscientiously  following  the  wishes  of 
her  brother  as  then  expressed,  had  only 
felt  free  to  send  the  trunk  full  of  clothing 
belonging  to  her  sister-in-law,  whom  she 
felt  would  have  been  glad  to  have  all  she 
possessed  go  to  her  son's  wife  and  child, 
and  along  the  hidden  paths  of  providence 


136  The  Blossom  Shop 

that  act  was  to  bring  to  Mrs.  Grey  and 
her  child  possession  of  the  estate.  Hours 
of  tumultuous  thought  followed  the  dis 
covery  of  this  final  act  of  love  and  justice, 
but  when  Mr.  Carter  came  home  to  lunch 
Mrs.  Grey  met  him  in  the  library  and 
composedly  laid  the  papers  before  him, 
telling  how  they  had  fallen  into  her 
hands. 

"  Alice,"  he  said  quietly,  and  with 
deep  regret,  when  he  had  gone  over  the 
papers  carefully,  "  you  ought  to  have  the 
money,  I  do  not  doubt,  but  I  am  afraid 
you  cannot  win  a  suit  with  that  paper  be 
fore  any  court." 

"  But  I  do  not  believe  I  shall  have  to 
sue,"  she  returned  quickly.  She  had 
thought  it  all  out.  "  Eugene  always 
said,"  she  went  on  earnestly,  "  that  his 
Aunt  Martha  was  the  soul  of  justice  and 
honor;  if  she  is  shown  these  papers, 


The  Broken-Hinged  Trunk       137 

which  she  will  know  to  be  genuine,  she 
will  at  once  relinquish  all  claims." 

She  asked  Mr.  Carter  to  be  her  attor 
ney  and  go  at  once  north  with  the  papers. 
He  agreed  to  do  so,  never  showing  by 
word  or  look  before  he  left  that  he  felt 
anything  but  a  business  interest  in  the 
matter.  They  decided  to  tell  the  chil 
dren  nothing  until  his  return,  and  Mr. 
Carter  smiled  as  he  said: 

"  Hannie  will  feel  entirely  forgiven 
for  that  wicked  prayer  if  it  comes  about 
that  the  burning  down  of  your  house  was 
the  indirect  means  of  bringing  to  you  and 
Gene  your  lawful  inheritance." 

"  I  doubt  if  that  letter  had  ever  come 
to  light  but  for  this,"  said  Mrs.  Grey. 
"  I  planned  when  Gene  was  grown  to 
open  the  trunk  with  her;  but  it  is  prob 
able,  if  we  ever  did,  we  would  only  have 
looked  in  and  closed  it  again,  because  I 


138  The  Blossom  Shop 

should  always  have  felt  that  the  clothes 
Mother  Grey  had  worn  were  too  sacred 
to  handle,  —  and  I  am  afraid  there  was 
too  much  bitterness  in  my  heart  against 
Father  Grey  and  Aunt  Martha,"  she 
added  honestly. 

There  was  silence  a  moment,  and  then, 
her  sweet  face  flushing  and  eyes  shining, 
she  turned  to  him  and  put  out  her  hand. 
"  You  and  yours  have  always  brought  me 
good,"  she  said  softly. 

But  he  took  no  advantage  of  her  mood. 
She  was  a  rich  woman  now,  or  soon 
would  be,  he  sternly  reminded  himself, 
and  that  put  things  upon  an  entirely  dif 
ferent  footing.  Besides,  should  she 
marry,  it  would  mean  the  forfeiture  of 
her  part  of  the  inheritance.  No,  he 
would  never  rob  her  of  anything.  All 
hope  was  ended  for  him. 


CHAPTER   XI 

AWAY  UP  NORTH 


JVlRS.  GREY  proved  to  be  entirely 
correct  in  her  unprejudiced  estimate  of 
the  character  of  her  husband's  aunt,  Miss 
Martha  Grey.  When  Mr.  Carter  laid 
the  letter  and  will  before  the  prim,  con 
scientious,  self-restrained  New  England 
lady,  telling  the  circumstances  of  their 
discovery,  she  said  at  once: 

"  That  is  undoubtedly  the  handwriting 
of  my  sister-in-law.  That  is  the  signature 
of  my  brother  James."  Then  she  paused 
a  moment,  her  lips  set  and  black  eyes 
clear  and  steady: 

"  The  documents  are  genuine,"  she 
went  on,  with  her  high  sense  of  honor 

139 


140  The  Blossom  Shop 

unshaken,  "  and  my  only  wish  is  to  carry 
out  the  last  will  and  testament  of  my 
brother  James.  The  property  shall  be, 
without  delay,  turned  over  to  the  widow 
and  child  of  my  nephew,  Eugene  Grey. 
I,  of  course,  have  received  the  income 
from  the  estate  for  the  past  five  years.  I 
will  at  once  make  out  a  check  for  the 
full  amount  of  this,  and  send  to  her  so 
that  she  may  come  into  immediate  pos 
session  of  her  rightful  dues  in-  part,  and 
that  I  may  make  reparation  for  the  unin 
tentional  injustice  done  her,  as  speedily 
as  possible." 

Mr.  Carter  was  amazed  at  such  rapid 
thinking  and  such  prompt  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  others,  when  such  rights 
meant  great  financial  loss,  for  he  did  not 
know  integrity  in  its  Puritanical  rigid- 
ness.  But  with  this  expeditious  thinking 
and  complete  restitution  'his  business 


Away  Up  North  141 

north  was  soon  accomplished,  and  he  re 
turned  to  Alabama  without  delay  to  send 
Mrs.  Grey  and  Gene  on  at  once  to  sign 
papers  and  complete  the  transfer. 

When  the  good  news  was  told  on  his 
return,  Gene  danced  in  happy  bewilder 
ment  because  mother  kissed  her  gaily 
many  times  a  day.  Hannie  and  May 
would  have  been  happy  too  in  the  good 
fortune  of  their  loved  friends,  but  it  was 
going  to  take  those  dear  friends  away, 
and  father  looked  so  grave  and  still  all 
the  time. 

Uncle  Sam  was  soon  turning  over  in 
his  hands  a  goodly  sum  of  money,  more 
than  he  had  ever  possessed  before,  and 
wondering  if  that  marvelous  story  could 
all  be  really  true. 

"  An'  me  an'  Miss  Alice  am'  gotter 
scuffle  no  mo'?"  he  said  to  himself  in 
quiringly.  He  couldn't  quite  pin  his 


142  The  Blossom  Shop 

faith  to  such  Utopian  dreams,  and  he 
finally  buried  most  of  his  allowance  care 
fully  one  dark  night,  lest  Miss  Alice  find 
out  that  she  needed  money  after  all. 

But  with  Miss  Martha  Grey's  check 
for  a  very  large  sum  at  her  immediate 
disposal,  the  days  of  financial  struggle 
had  really  vanished  like  a  summer  cloud 
for  Mrs.  Grey,  and  she  and  Gene 
boarded  a  train  for  the  north  with  every 
comfort  within  their  reach  just  three 
weeks  from  the  time  Hannie's  little 
wicked  prayer  had  gone  up  and  the  old 
home  had  disappeared  in  a  whirl  of 
flame  and  smoke,  leaving  them  desolate. 
The  hills  again  untied  their  bonnets  and 
the  bobolinks  began  each  morning,  while 
little  yellow  boys  and  girls  climbed  the 
purple  stile  at  sunset. 

As  they  drew  near  their  destination 
after  an  uneventful  journey,  Mrs.  Grey 


Away  Up  North  143 

was  very  grateful  that  she  had  planted 
no  bitterness  in  the  heart  of  her  child,  and 
again  and  again  she  told  all  the  happy 
things  which  her  husband  had  talked 
about  concerning  his  home  and  dear 
ones. 

They  arrived  at  last  without  mishap  at 
the  bustling  little  New  England  city  of 
Eugene  Grey's  boyhood,  and  appeared 
one  sparkling  June  morning  at  the  old 
Grey  homestead  of  almost  a  century's 
standing.  Both  hearts  beat  quickly,  Mrs. 
Grey's  with  anxious  uncertainty,  which 
she  carefully  concealed  from  the  child, 
and  Gene's  with  eager,  undefined  expecta 
tion. 

It  was  a  square,  somber-looking  house 
before  which  they  stood,  with  an  iron  rail 
ing  enclosing  its  formal  front  grass  plot. 
The  door-bell  sounded  far  away  when 
Mrs.  Grey  touched  it,  and  they  waited 


144  The  Blossom  Shop 

long  before  the  stately  butler  ushered 
them  in.  The  stillness  of  death  seemed 
to  fall  upon  them  as  they  entered  a  parlor 
whose  rich  dark  furnishings  looked 
equally  funereal  and  imposing.  Gene 
clutched  her  mother's  hand  with  instinc 
tive  fear  while  the  two  waited  in  breath 
less  silence. 

At  last  from  down  the  long  hall  Gene's 
quick  ears  caught  the  sound  of  soft  foot 
falls,  her  face  lit  up  with  eager  expect 
ancy  again,  and  a  moment  later  Miss 
Martha  Grey  was  before  them,  tall, 
slender,  erect,  with  white  hair  put 
smoothly  back  from  a  somewhat  long 
face,  which  was  not  old  for  a  woman  of 
fifty,  but  the  keen  dark  eyes  had  lacked 
the  sparkle  of  laughter  even  in  youth,  one 
instinctively  felt,  and  the  muscles  about 
the  mouth  had  become  fixed  in  sober, 
austere  lines.  With  all  her  Puritan  re- 


Away   Up  North  145 

serve  upon  her  she  extended  her  hand 
stiffly  to  her  nephew's  widow,  and  then 
turning  to  Gene,  she  stood  a  moment 
transfixed.  Before  her  was  a  little  fairy 
child  faultlessly  dressed,  with  soft  light 
curls  framing  a  sweet  face  over  which 
emotion  played  like  flickering  sunbeams 
over  a  June  rose,  sensitive  little  fingers 
outstretching  to  greet  dear  auntie,  who 
mother  said  had  been  so  good  to  them,  — 
and  with  the  suddenness  of  magic  the 
starved  maiden  heart  melted  into  warm, 
tender,  beautiful  womanhood  with  its  in 
herent  motherliness.  She  knelt  before 
the  child,  in  whose  veins  flowed  the  same 
blood  as  hers,  and  taking  it  in  her  arms 
showered  her  long  hidden  tenderness  in 
soft  ki$ses  upon  the  fair  brow,  and  sweet 
lips,  while  the  little  arms  twined  about 
the  woman's  neck  in  loving  response. 
Shaken  in  a  way  she  had  never  been  be- 


146  The  Blossom  Shop 

fore  in  all  her  self-contained  life,  Miss 
Grey  rose  at  last,  and  still  holding  the 
child's  hand,  turned  to  the  mother  and 
said  unsteadily: 

"  I  thank  God  I  can  make  restitution 
to  this  dear  child." 

This  was  not  at  all  what  she  had  in 
tended  to  say.  She  had  meant  to  do  her 
duty  by  these  aliens,  giving  them  their 
full  rights,  but,  at  the  same  time,  from 
her  Puritan  heights  of  rectitude,  she  had 
intended  to  confine  her  dealings  to  busi 
ness,  and,  if  possible,  to  impress  upon 
them  a  sense  of  their  obligations  and  re 
sponsibility.  But  what  heart  could  resist 
that  helpless,  beautiful  child? 

She  regained  her  composure  through 
a  little  talk  of  business  with  Gene's  hand 
still  in  her  own,  and  at  last  said,  with 
conventional  courtesy  which  held  some 
thing  of  authority: 


Away  Up  North  147 

"  You  must  remain  here  with  me  while 
you  stay." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Alice  Grey,  quickly 
and  firmly,  "  we  cannot  think  of  dis 
turbing  you;  we  have  rooms  at  the 
hotel." 

"  Oh,  mother,"  put  in  Gene  pleadingly, 
"  I  want  to  stay  here  with  my  father's 
Aunt  Martha!" 

Amazed  at  the  choice  of  the  child, 
which  would  mean  acceptance  of  hos 
pitality  from  the  main  object  of  her  years 
of  bitterness,  Mrs.  Grey  was  speechless 
for  a  moment,  and  Miss  Martha,  with  a 
little  happy  light  of  triumph  on  her  aus 
tere  face  which  would  have  astonished 
all  her  acquaintances,  said: 

"  I  couldn't  allow  you  to  stay  else 
where.  I  will  call  a  maid  to  show  you 
to  your  rooms  and  send  a  man  for  your 
luggage." 


148  The  Blossom  Shop 

So  they  were  most  unexpectedly  in 
stalled  in  the  home  of  Miss  Martha 
Grey,  and  while  every  courtesy  was 
shown  them,  it  was  the  formal  courtesy 
one  shows  a  stranger  so  far  as  Alice  Grey 
was  concerned,  and  she  would  have 
speedily  terminated  her  stay  on  some  pre 
text  but  for  the  amazing  fact  that  Gene 
with  the  mysterious  skill  of  childhood 
kept  herself  in  perfect  attune  with  the 
austere  woman,  and  her  mother,  remem 
bering  the  close  tie  of  blood  between 
them,  was  constrained  by  something  in 
tuitive  to  bide  time's  developments. 

But  after  a  few  days  the  prim  stateli- 
ness  of  the  house  oppressed  her  and  she 
could  see  that  Gene  felt  it  too.  They  had 
been  very  busy  at  first,  and  then  came  a 
wait  while  papers  were  being  prepared 
and  investigations  made.  Miss  Grey  was 
not  accustomed  to  so  much  going  out  as 


Away   Up  North  149 

this  had  necessitated  and  was  glad  of  the 
pause.  She  felt,  doubtless,  that  her 
guests  should  be  equally  relieved. 

Gene  had  begun  from  the  first  to  try 
to  learn  the  highways  and  by-paths  of 
the  house,  but  the  more  she  tried  the  more 
the  stillness,  the  shut-in  air  frightened 
her,  while  the  distant,  silent  attitude  of 
the  servants  was  depressing,  and  she 
wanted  to  hold  her  mother's  or  Miss 
Martha's  hand  all  the  time.  She  soon 
ate  almost  nothing,  saying  plaintively 
when  she  was  urged,  "  Please,  I  am  not 
hungry." 

Miss  Martha,  with  a  tender  solicitude 
that  was  entirely  new  to  her,  had  many ' 
dainty    things    prepared,    but   the    child 
would  only  say,  "  I  am  so  sorry,  Aunt 
Martha,  but  I  cannot  eat." 

When  she  awakened  in  the  morning 
she  would  ask  instantly  with  a  little 


150  The  Blossom  Shop 

frightened  voice,  "  Mother,  where  is 
home?" 

"  Home,  darling,  is  just  where  we  left 
it,"  Mrs.  Gray  would  reply  cheerily,  and 
then  talk  about  what  they  were  doing 
down  in  old  Alabama  just  then. 

"  Mammy  Sue  is  combing  Hannie's  and 
May's  hair,"  she  would  say,  or,  "  They 
are  just  getting  up,"  or,  "  still  asleep," 
and  then  the  hills  would  untie  their  bon 
nets  and  the  bobolinks  begin  merrily  as 
of  old,  while  the  old  bright  look  came 
back  to  her  little  face.  But  as  they  went 
down-stairs  the  child  would  clutch  her 
mother's  hand,  and  then  cling  to  Aunt 
Martha  in  her  morning  greeting  with  a 
pathetic  eagerness  that  wrung  that  self- 
contained  woman's  heart,  while  it  bound 
her  to  the  child  with  a  perfect  abandon 
of  tenderness. 

She  soon  came  to  exchange  looks  with 


Away   Up  North  151 

Mrs.  Grey  which  said  plainly,  "  the  child 
is  homesick,"  and  this  womanly  under 
standing  could  not  fail  to  bring  closer  the 
two  of  alien  blood.  They  worked  to 
gether  to  divert  the  little  one,  but  with 
poor  success.  The  servants,  too,  recogni 
zing  a  change  of  conditions  in  the  house 
hold,  and  having  been  greatly  attracted 
to  the  helpless  child  with  her  gentle, 
sweet  ways,  gave  her  kindliest  attention. 
But,  in  spite  of  all,  the  small  face  grew 
daily,  almost  hourly,  white  and  thin  with 
the  quick  change  that  is  always  possible 
with  children.  At  last  one  morning  the 
child  said  wearily: 

"  I  am  so  tired,  mother,  I  cannot  get 
up."  Mrs.  Grey's  heart  stood  still. 
Anxiously  she  called  Miss  Martha  and 
the  two  women  hovered  over  the  little 
bed,  no  longer  aliens,  but  one  in  distressed 
sympathy  and  interest. 


152  The  Blossom  Shop 

11  We  must  have  the  doctor  at  once," 
said  Miss  Martha,  hurrying  from  the 
room  to  call  him. 

No  one  thought  of  breakfast;  the  serv 
ants  tiptoed  here  and  there  in  frightened 
awe  as  they  saw  Miss  Martha's  face,  and 
the  household  held  its  breath,  so  to  speak, 
until  the  doctor  came. 


CHAPTER   XII 

DR.   MURTON 


DR.  MURTON  had  been  the  Greys' 
family  physician  for  many  years.  He 
was  a  bachelor  of  portly  build,  with  an 
abundant  shock  of  iron-gray  hair  and  an 
unruly  white  forelock  above  keen,  gray- 
blue  eyes  and  a  sternly  marked  face  which 
broke  readily  upon  occasion  into  radiant 
good  humor  with  astonishing  transforma 
tion.  Big,  blustering  he  was,  yet  very 
kindly,  and  a  great  lover  of  children. 

Up  the  stairs  he  came  with  vigor  yet 
lightness  of  step,  his  entire  personality 
being  a  combination  of  contrasts. 

"  Well,  well,  what  have  we  here!  "  he 
exclaimed,  as  he  entered  the  room,  then 


153 


154  The  Blossom  Shop 

sat  down  beside  the  child,  took  the  listless 
little  hand  and  passed  it  caressingly  over 
his  face. 

"  Why,  it  is  a  little  southern  johnny- 
jump-up  that's  turned  to  a  snow-drop 
up  here  in  the  cold  north,"  he  ran  on, 
with  a  certain  tender  quality  in  his  voice, 
as  he  felt  her  pulse  and  examined  her 
carefully,  which  won  her  heart  at  once. 

"  Didn't  they  tell  me  your  name  was 
Johnny?  "  he  asked  then  teasingly. 

u  No,  —  Eugene,"  answered  a  weak 
little  voice  while  a  wan  smile  crept  into 
the  white  face. 

"  Well,  well,  I  made  a  mistake,  didn't 
I?  But  we  like  johnny-jump-ups  better 
than  we  do  snow-drops,  and  we  must  have 
you  up  and  prancing  about  before  a  cat 
can  wink  her  eye." 

"  I  know  the  very  thing  that  will  do  it," 
he  went  on,  rapidly  writing  a  prescrip- 


Dr.  Murton  155 


tion  and  bringing  another  wan  smile  as 
he  ordered  'possum  and  sweet  'taters  for 
her  dinner. 

But  out  in  the  hall  he  told  Miss 
Martha  that  the  child,  he  feared,  was  in  a 
quite  serious  state  of  nervous  collapse. 

"  Homesickness  is  part  of  it,  but  not 
all,"  he  said.  "  Give  her  all  the  sunlight 
you  can,  —  never  mind  fading  carpets,  — 
and  I  can  tell  better  to-morrow.  We 
must  bring  about  a  prompt  reaction,"  he 
ended  as  he  hurried  out. 

Next  morning  he  came  early  and  found 
everything  flooded  with  sunshine  in  the 
gloomy  old  house.  As  he  sat  down  by 
Gene's  bed  he  bantered  her  a  little  about 
not  having  "  jumped  up  yet,"  and  pre 
tended  great  surprise  that  she  hadn't 
made  her  dinner  the  previous  day  from 
'possum  and  sweet  'taters  as  he  had  told 
her. 


156  The  Blossom  Shop 

This  time  her  smile  was  hardly  a  little 
ghost,  and  with  the  pretense  of  getting 
her  something  himself  worth  while  to 
eat,  he  beckoned  Mrs.  Grey  to  go  out 
with  him,  while  Miss  Martha  remained 
with  the  child. 

"  Has  the  little  girl  had  a  nervous 
shock  of  any  kind  recently?  "  he  inquired 
at  once. 

aWhy,  no,"  Mrs.  Grey  answered 
slowly,  "  unless  it  was  the  fire,"  she 
added. 

"Fire?"  returned  the  doctor  sharply. 
"  Tell  me  about  it,"  and  he  drew  her  to 
a  window-seat  in  the  hall. 

Mrs.  Grey  told  him  anxiously  all 
about  the  burning  of  their  old  home  and 
her  subsequent  illness,  so  she  had  hardly 
noticed  the  effect  on  the  child. 

The  doctor  nodded  his  head  under- 
standingly. 


Dr.  Murton  157 

"  And  then  she  came  up  here  through 
the  darkness  into  this  tomb,"  he  said  to 
himself.  Aloud,  "  I  think  she  felt  the 
shock  of  that  fire  more  than  you  knew 
perhaps,  and  then  coming  to  a  new 
world,  with  a  complete  change  of  climate 
and  surroundings,  has  been  rather  hard 
on  her." 

"  Shall  I  take  her  right  back?  "  asked 
Mrs.  Grey  eagerly. 

"  No,  hardly  just  now,"  he  replied 
slowly,  then  considered  a  moment. 
"  Has  she  anybody  at  home  that  she 
thinks  a  great  deal  of  who  could  come 
to  her,  —  as  a  sort  of  assurance  of  the 
reality  and  continued  existence  of  that 
world  she  and  you  have  left?  " 

"Why,  yes,"  returned  Mrs.  Grey, 
greatly  troubled,  "  I  have  several  friends 
who  could  come." 

"All  right,"  said  the  doctor  cheerily, 


158  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  we'll  go  back  and  ask  her  whom  she 
would  like  to  have  come  to  see  her 
from  home,  and  watch  the  effect  upon 
her." 

"  But,  doctor,"  Mrs.  Grey  began  dep- 
recatingly,  "  we  can't  ask  anybody  to 
come  here  —  " 

"  I'll  fix  that,"  broke  in  the  doctor  be 
fore  she  could  finish,  and  he  hurried  back 
to  the  child's  bedside,  Mrs.  Grey  anx 
iously  following. 

"  Well,  now,"  he  exclaimed  cheerily, 
sitting  down  by  Gene,  "  I've  ordered 
cracklin'  bread  and  chincapins  for  your 
dinner, — you  see,  I  have  traveled  south 
and  I  know  what  wee  southern  girls 
like." 

The  little  ghost-smile  came  out  as  the 
child  replied  weakly,  "  We  don't  have 
chincapins  in  the  summer,  or  cracklin' 
bread  either." 


Dr.  Murton  159 


"  Is  that  so?  What  a  blunderer  I  am! 
Well,  you'll  get  things  just  as  good  any 
way,  this  time,  sure.  And  now  I  want  to 
tell  you  something,"  and  he  took  a  little 
hand  in  each  of  his,  "  I  have  found  out 
from  —  well,  the  fairies,  —  that  you  can 
have  anybody  to  come  to  see  you  from 
home  that  you  want!  Now  tell  us,  whom 
do  you  want?  " 

A  sudden  flickering  light  broke  over 
the  sweet  face  and  the  doctor  felt  the 
little  hands  tremble. 

"  Tell  us,"  he  urged,  "  just  whom  you 
want." 

"  I  want,"  she  began  slowly,  at  last, 
"  I  want  Hannie  to  come,  and  May,  and 
Mr.  Carter,  and  Uncle  Sam,"  the  little 
voice  growing  stronger  with  each  name, 
"  and  Mammy  Sue,  and,  —  and  the  par 
rot  and  the  puppies,"  till  the  last  was  a 
glad  cry. 


160  The  Blossom  Shop 

The  doctor  leaned  back,  laughing 
heartily,  and  then  exclaimed: 

"  All  right,  we'll  have  them  here  before 
you  know  it,  every  single  one  of  them, 
not  a  parrot  or  a  puppy  left  out!"  and 
he  laughed  again  uncontrollably,  while 
Mrs.  Grey  protested  in  consternation: 

"  Oh,  Gene,  darling,  you  do  not  want 
so  many! " 

"  Yes,  mother,  I  do,"  she  said  with 
energy  she  had  not  shown  for  a  week, 
"  and  the  doctor  says  I  can  have  them 
all!" 

"  But,  Aunt  Martha,"  Mrs.  Grey  mur 
mured  feebly. 

The  doctor  covered  her  murmur  with 
another  hearty,  "  We'll  have  them  all, 
little  Johnny-jump-up,  in  three  days 
from  now.  I'll  send  the  telegram  my 
self  that  will  bring  them,"  and  he  took 
the  address  from  Mrs.  Grey. 


Dr.  Murton  161 


As  for  Aunt  Martha,  she  sat  in  equal 
consternation,  but  her  face  was  inscru 
table.  She  followed  the  doctor  out,  how 
ever,  when  he  went,  and  he  looked  a  little 
guilty,  but  with  a  vigorous  pull  at  that 
restless  forelock,  a  trick  of  his  under  em 
barrassment  or  stress  of  any  kind,  he  in 
quired  brusquely: 

"  You  can  manage  it,  can't  you,  Miss 
Martha?  If  you  can't,  I  can  take  half  a 
dozen  of  them,"  he  added  more  boldly 
still. 

"  I  can  entertain  them,"  said  Miss 
Martha  with  stiff  dignity,  and  the  doctor 
went  hurriedly  out.  The  door  once 
closed,  he  chuckled  again  and  again, 
now  and  then  throwing  his  head 
back  with  a  big  laugh  while  he 
exclaimed: 

"  Two  '  niggers '  and  a  parrot  and  pup 
pies!  I'm  afraid  the  old  house'll  have 


162  The  Blossom  Shop 

delirium  tremens,  to  say  nothing  of  Miss 
Martha.  But  I've  been  wanting  to  see 
that  house  stirred  up  ever  since  I  was 
born.  It  was  all  I  could  do  as  a  boy  to 
keep  from  throwing  stones  at  its  con 
stantly  darkened  windows.  I  would  have 
married  Martha  long  ago,  bless  my  soul, 
if  I  hadn't  been  afraid  of  that  house,"  he 
ended  viciously. 

In  less  than  an  hour  he  had  sent  this 
telegram  speeding  toward  the  little  Ala 
bama  town. 

"  MR.  JOHN  CARTER: 

"  Little  Eugene  Grey  is  seriously  ill. 
We  wish  to  try  home  surroundings  for 
her.  Come  at  once  and  bring  your  two 
children,  also  Uncle  Sam,  Mammy  Sue, 
the  parrot  and  the  puppies  without 
fail. 

"  Signed,  W.  W.  MuRTON,  M.  D." 


Dr.  Murton  163 


When  the  doctor  came  in  two  morn 
ings  later  this  last  happy  prescription  had 
done  much  beneficent  work.  Gene's  lit 
tle  face,  though  still  thin,  with  only  a 
growing  tinge  of  pink,  yet  held  the 
sparkle  of  happiness,  and  the  pall  of 
anxiety  over  the  old  house  was  lifted. 
Miss  Martha  met  him  at  the  door  with 
a  greeting  almost  gay,  and  when  he  went 
up  to  the  sick-room  he  sat  down  by  his 
little  charge  with  great  satisfaction.  As 
he  did  so  an  envelope  covering  one  of  the 
glasses  beside  her  caught  his  eye,  and  he 
read  aloud  the  printed  return  address  in 
the  corner,  "  Eugene  Grey  &  Co., 
Florists,  —  "  he  halted  there  inquiringly. 

Mrs.  Grey  saw  the  puzzled  look  upon 
his  face,  and  in  the  happiness  which  had 
come  upon  them  all  she  laughingly  said: 

"  Yes,  we  made  a  Blossom  Shop  of  our 
old  Alabama  home,  and  —  let  me  intro- 


164  The  Blossom  Shop 

duce  you  to  the  head  of  our  firm,  —  Eu 
gene  Grey,  Dr.  Murton,"  playfully  lift 
ing  the  child's  hand  to  his. 

"  And  mother  is  the  Co.,"  came 
Gene's  weak  voice  with  an  answering 
ring  of  gaiety. 

Then  they  had  to  tell  him  all  about 
their  flower  business,  the  cape  jessamines 
and  the  smilax,  and  the  funny,  scary  let 
ters  they  once  got. 

"  So,"  said  he  at  last,  "  you've  been 
keeping  a  Blossom  Shop.  And  didn't  I 
recognize  your  trade-mark  the  minute  I 
saw  this  Johnny-jump-up?  You've  made 
it  the  business  of  your  lives  to  send  beauty 
and  fragrance  out  over  the  world,  —  and 
you've  certainly  been  distributing  it  since 
you  came  here.  Why,  look  at  Miss 
Martha  and  me!  We  are  growing  young 
and  beautiful  all  the  time  under  your 
spell. 


Dr.  Murton  165 


"  Don't  ever  give  it  up,"  he  went  on 
with  vehemence,  which  the  bobbing  fore 
lock  emphasized,  "  perhaps  you  won't 
now  be  counting  your  profit  in  dollars 
and  cents,  since  you  no  longer  need  to, 
but  if  you  can  go  around  scattering  blos 
soms  of  happiness  as  you  have  over  this 
home  and  town,  you  will  store  up  that 
sort  of  treasure  which  the  Bible  tells 
about." 

"  Oh,"  cried  Mrs.  Grey  under  her 
breath,  "  don't,  doctor,  —  think  of  the 
trouble  we  have  made  here." 

But  Miss  Martha,  flushed  from  the 
doctor's  reference  to  herself,  said  with 
nervous  quickness : 

"  There  has  been  no  trouble  that  any 
body  minded." 

And  the  doctor  chuckled  again  con 
tentedly  when  he  went  out  the  stately 
doorway. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

LIVELY  VISITORS 


J.  HERE  had  been  natural  consterna 
tion  on  Mr.  Carter's  part  when  he  re 
ceived  that  astounding  telegram,  but 
Gene,  —  Alice  Grey  needed  him,  this 
thought  quickly  succeeded,  and  he  did  not 
waste  a  moment.  As  it  happened,  he  had 
not  left  the  house  for  his  office,  and  as 
soon  as  Uncle  Sam  and  Mammy  Sue  had 
subdued  their  amazement  sufficiently  he 
had  them  busy  with  preparations,  while 
Hannie  and  May  ran  hither  and  thither 
in  happy  excitement. 

Uncle   Sam's   principal   part  was   the 
purchase  of  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  a  neces- 

166 


Lively  Visitors  167 

sity  of  long  standing,  but  of  which  his 
skepticism  of  "  Miss  Alice's  and  his  good 
fortune  "  had  prevented  practical  recog 
nition.  Then  he  had  to  prepare  and  fit 
up  a  cage  suitable  for  the  puppies'  jour 
ney. 

Mammy  Sue  having  instantly  put 
every  "  nigger  "  within  reach  to  washing 
and  ironing,  the  result  was,  by  train  time 
that  night  Hannie  and  May  were  dressed 
immaculately,  Mammy  Sue's  dark  dress 
and  white  apron  could  have  stood  alone 
and  her  head-kerchief  was  spotless,  while 
the  well  packed  and  strapped  trunks 
rested  on  the  station  platform  awaiting 
the  coming  of  the  train. 

Three  days  later  they  all  stood  at  Miss 
Martha's  door  under  the  doctor's  escort. 
He  had  met  them  at  the  train  and  es 
corted  them  to  the  house  in  order  that  he 
might  be  at  hand  without  fail  in  case  thr 


168  The  Blossom  Shop 

excitement  proved  too  much  for  his  little 
patient.  As  the  party  waited  response  to 
their  ring,  the  parrot  began  squawking, 
"  Get  off  the  white  folks'  sidewalk,  side 
walk,"  because  she  did  not  know  what 
else  to  say  which  would  so  well  voice  her 
indignation  over  the  experiences  of  the 
past  few  days.  This  put  the  doctor  in 
high  glee,  and  they  were  a  merry  party, 
for  his  word  that  Gene  was  already 
greatly  improved  with  the  happy  pros 
pect  of  their  coming  had  greatly  relieved 
Mr.  Carter  and  made  everybody  very 
happy.  The  butler  soon  appeared, 
ushered  them  in  with  stately  dignity  and 
gingerly  took  charge  of  the  parrot  and 
puppies  at  the  doctor's  request. 

Gene  was  lying  in  a  big  chair  that  was 
almost  a  bed,  her  face  alight  with  joyous 
expectancy  as  the  doctor  led  his  flock 
quietly  in,  one  by  one.  Mrs.  Grey  and 


USHERED   THEM    IN    WITH    STATELY   DIGNITY   AND   GIN 
GERLY    TOOK    CHARGE    OF    THE    PARROT." 


Lively  Visitors  169 

Miss  Martha  stood  anxiously  by,  fearful 
of  the  excitement. 

Hannie  and  May  greeted  her  and  Mrs. 
Grey  in  turn  with  rapturous  affection, 
then  Mr.  Carter  followed,  kissing  the 
little  girl  in  quiet  tenderness  and  taking 
Alice  Grey's  hand  with  a  warm  clasp  and 
one  unguarded  look  into  her  tear-filled 
eyes. 

Uncle  Sam  and  Mammy  Sue  came 
next,  and  the  quaint  immaculateness  of 
their  dress,  their  quiet  dignity,  their  re 
spectful  affection  as  they  each  in  turn 
took  the  child  in  their  arms  and  held  her 
close  without  kissing  her,  was  a  new  spec 
tacle  to  Miss  Martha,  which  completely 
reconciled  her  to  their  presence,  —  a  state 
of  mind  she  had  not  been  able  to 
reach  before,  though  she  had  given  no 
sign. 

When  all  had  been  greeted  and  intro- 


170  The  Blossom  Shop 

duced,  and  Uncle  Sam  and  Mammy  Sue 
had  dropped  discreetly  into  the  back 
ground,  Gene  clasped  her  little  hands 
ecstatically,  and  said: 

"  Now,  where  are  the  parrot  and  the 
puppies?  " 

Everybody  laughed,  the  doctor  most  of 
all,  for  it  was  very  apparent  that  joy  had 
lifted  the  little  invalid  at  once  almost 
back  into  her  old  strength.  His  biggest 
smile  beamed  out  while  the  forelock 
danced  as  he  exclaimed  hilariously: 

"Oh,  they  are  here  all  right!  Bring 
them  on,  Uncle  Sam,"  and  the  old  man 
hurried  out  to  get  them,  while  Miss 
Martha  sat  helplessly  forestalled  for  the 
first  time  since  she  became  mistress  of 
the  old  Grey  homestead.  Alice  Grey 
looked  anxious  protest  at  the  doctor,  but 
he  ignored  everybody. 

Uncle    Sam   soon    came   in   with   the 


Lively  Visitors  171 

parrot  on  his  shoulder  and  a  puppy  under 
each  arm,  and  they  were  put  down  in 
front  of  Gene  on  a  carpet  which  might 
have  been  expected  to  cry  out  under  such 
desecration. 

Gene  extended  both  hands.  "  Come, 
Hannie  and  May,  and  tell  me  what 
they  do." 

The  little  girls  knelt  at  once  beside  her 
and  Polly  did  not  disappoint  her  breath 
less  audience.  She  strutted  about  the 
puppies,  from  whom  she  had  been  un 
willingly  separated,  crying,  "  My  pups, 
my  pups,"  rubbing  her  neck  against  their 
round  backs  and  giving  threatening 
orders  of,  "  Don't  touch  'em,"  to  the 
lookers-on,  interspersed  with  instructions 
to  the  doggies,  such  as,  "  Bite  'em,  pup," 
or  "  Wash  your  faces,"  and  "  Mind  your 
mother,"  things  which  the  children  had 
lately  taught  her  to  say,  while  the  pup- 


172  The  Blossom  Shop 

pies  wagged  their  tails  about  her  in 
delight. 

Uncle  Sam,  much  pleased  with  the 
success  of  the  performance,  said: 

"  I  pretty  near  had  all  dat  train  full 
er  folks  out  in  de  baggage  car  wid  me 
looking'  at  dat  parrot  an'  dem  puppies." 

"  Well,  well,"  said  the  doctor  at  last, 
rubbing  his  hands  in  final  satisfaction, 
"  I  don't  think  this  little  Johnny-jump- 
up  of  that  southern  Blossom  Shop  needs 
me  any  more,  so  I  must  hustle  out  and 
look  after  some  northern  snow-drop," 
and  he  beamingly  hurried  away. 

But,  in  spite  of  not  being  needed, 
"  Miss  Martha's  Zoo,"  as  he  delightedly 
called  it,  fascinated  him  so  that  he  was 
there  every  day,  and  soon  had  carried 
Mr.  Carter's  luggage  whether  or  no  from 
the  hotel,  where  he  had  insisted  upon 
stopping,  to  his  own  bachelor  quarters. 


Lively  Visitors  173 

Miss  Martha  in  turn  would  take  no 
denial  from  Mr.  Carter  to  her  invita 
tion  to  dine  at  her  house  each  day,  for 
she  liked  the  southern  gentleman's  pleas 
ant,  leisurely  way  of  talking,  his  ready 
courtesy,  and  was  greatly  entertained 
with  his  seemingly  inexhaustible  fund 
of  interesting  stories  full  of  a  delicious, 
delicate  humor. 

The  doctor  began  taking  the  liberty 
of  dropping  in  to  dinner  also  each  day, 
and  for  a  week  the  old  house  knew  a 
gaiety  unprecedented  in  its  history. 
Children's  voices  echoed  through  the 
halls,  not  boisterously,  for  Mammy  Sue 
had  her  charges  too  well  in  hand  for 
that,  but  with  innocent  life  and  merri 
ment.  There  were  also  some  very  ex 
citing  episodes,  as  was  inevitable  with 
such  lively  visitors  as  a  parrot  and  two 
puppies. 


174  The  Blossom  Shop 

The  house  stood  upon  a  corner  with  a 
side  door  opening  from  the  kitchen  entry 
upon  a  side  street.  The  parrot  and  pup 
pies  had  been  installed  in  a  tool  room 
opening  also  into  this  entry,  and  one 
morning  Hannie  and  May,  with  Gene 
between  them,  stood  looking  from  an 
upper  window  chatting  gaily  over  every 
thing  which  passed,  when  suddenly  the 
two  puppies  dashed  out  the  side  door 
beneath  them  with  Polly  following  and 
screaming  excitedly,  "My  pups!  my 
pups!  " 

Hannie  and  May  turned  in  conster 
nation  to  Mrs.  Grey  who  sat  reading  near 
them,  "  Oh,  the  puppies  are  running 
away,"  they  cried  together,  and  dashed 
from  the  room  down  the  back  stairs  and 
into  the  street  in  a  twinkling. 

There  the  puppies  were,  sure  enough, 
racing  down  the  decorous  street  with 


Lively  Visitors  175 

Polly  walking  or  flying  as  near  as  she 
could  beside  them,  screaming  constantly, 
u  My  pups!  my  pups!"  and  the  two 
little  girls  wildly  followed.  Soon  Uncle 
Sam  and  Mammy  Sue  were  also  hurry 
ing  along  in  the  rear. 

"  What  will  Aunt  Martha  think? " 
said  Mrs.  Grey,  looking  from  the  upper 
window  in  laughing  dismay.  But  the 
children  raced  on  with  no  thought  of  the 
comedy  they  were  furnishing  staid  New 
Englanders.  People  stood  aside  in  as 
tonished  interest  all  along  the  way,  and 
the  doctor,  with  Mr.  Carter  in  the  car 
riage  beside  him,  happening  by  at  that 
moment,  stopped  his  horse  in  equal 
amazement.  Then,  taking  in  the  situa 
tion,  he  exclaimed  to  Mr.  Carter  with  a 
big  laugh,  "  Miss  Martha's  Zoo  has 
stampeded!"  turned  his  horse  about  and 
joined  the  pursuers. 


176  The  Blossom  Shop 

Two  blocks  were  safely  passed  while 
everybody  watched  with  breathless 
amusement,  runaways  and  pursuers  all 
at  high  speed,  the  parrot  keeping  up 
with  the  puppies  by  constant  flights,  and 
then  they  were  getting  into  the  heart  of 
the  little  city.  Another  crossing  was  be 
fore  them,  and  oh,  a  big  electric  car  came 
whizzing  up  the  street! 

"  Oh,  oh!  the  dear  puppies  will  be 
killed  sure,"  cried  Hannie  and  May  fran 
tically,  almost  upon  the  runaways,  yet  not 
quite. 

But  the  parrot's  shrill,  human  cries  of 
"My  pups!  my  pups!"  stopped  the 
motorman  and  halted  hurrying  vehicles 
of  all  sorts  while  the  parrot  and  puppies 
went  safely  across,  and  everybody  laughed 
as  Hannie  and  May,  hurrying  after,  each 
captured  a  naughty  little  fellow  as  he 
struggled  up  the  curb.  Flushed  and 


Lively  Visitors  177 

panting,  the  children  started  back,  laugh 
ing  with  the  rest,  while  the  much  ruffled 
Polly  flew  along  beside  them  varying  her 
favorite  exclamation  of  "My  pups!" 
with  a  scolding  cry  of  "  Bad  pups! " 

The  doctor  and  Mr.  Carter  met  them 
at  the  first  corner  on  their  return,  and 
drew  the  little  girls  and  their  puppies 
into  the  carriage  with  great  hilarity  on 
the  doctor's  part,  but  the  parrot  refused 
a  ride,  keeping  out  of  the  children's 
reach.  Uncle  Sam  with  Mammy  Sue, 
who  had  also  reached  the  busy  street, 
both  puffing  and  blowing,  soon  subdued 
Polly  and,  rebelling  shrilly,  she  started 
back  on  Uncle  Sam's  shoulder.  They 
had  not  gone  far,  however,  before  they 
met  Miss  Martha,  who  had  followed  too 
in  excited  interest,  and  Polly  added  the 
last  touch  to  the  doctor's  enjoyment  by 
leaving  Uncle  Sam  and  lighting  upon 


178  The  Blossom  Shop 

Miss  Martha's  prim  shoulder.  The  ob 
stinate  bird  refused  to  move,  so  Miss 
Martha,  laughing  as  she  had  rarely  done 
in  her  girlhood,  walked  down  the  street 
to  her  home,  her  hair  blowing  about  her 
face  and  with  Polly  scolding  lustily  all 
the  way. 

By  this  time  Mrs.  Grey  stood  with 
Gene  at  the  doorway  rapidly  telling  her 
all  that  was  passing. 

When  the  gay  crowd  came  up  to  them 
the  doctor  unloaded  his  passengers  and 
then  peered  anxiously  about. 

"  Have  I  got  'em  all,  —  all  the  chil 
dren  and  all  the  puppies?  "  he  exclaimed. 
"  I  wouldn't  want  to  lose  one,  you  know," 
he  added  anxiously,  while  the  children 
giggled  merrily  and  Gene  danced  up  and 
down  in  old-time  glee. 

"  I  tell  you  what,"  the  doctor  went  on, 
pinching  Gene's  fast  rounding  cheek, 


Lively  Visitors  179 

"  I  never  saw  anything  like  the  thriving 
business  Eugene  Grey  &  Co.'s  Blossom 
Shop  is  doing.  It's  imported  so  much 
of  that  southern  sunshine  for  us,  the  first 
thing  you  know  we'll  thaw  out  com 
pletely,"  and  he  looked  out  the  corner  of 
his  eye  at  Miss  Martha,  who  was  stroking 
Polly's  ruffled  feathers  as  she  went  up  the 
steps. 

The  whole  party  went  laughing  and 
talking  into  the  house,  and  at  the  same 
moment  every  bit  of  gloom  for  the  little 
girl  who  could  not  see  was  dispelled  for 
ever  from  the  stately  old  place,  while  she 
seemed  at  once  to  find  her  full  measure 
of  strength  and  buoyancy. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

AN  ARCH   SCHEMER 


JL  HE  doctor's  enthusiasm  grew  apace 
with  similar  episodes  and  the  returning 
roses  in  Gene's  cheeks.  He  became  daily 
more  daring  and  was  entirely  responsible 
for  the  next  startling  event  which  sur 
prised  the  old  Grey  homestead. 

He  was  passing  rapidly  along  the  side 
street  one  day,  his  face  set  in  the  stern 
lines,  when  he  saw  ahead  Uncle  Sam 
standing  rather  disconsolately  at  the  rear 
entrance  of  the  Grey  place,  and  instantly 
genial  radiance  transformed  him. 

"  Hello,  Uncle  Sam,"  he  called  heart 
ily  from  the  nearest  hearing  point. 
"  How  are  you?" 


180 


An  Arch  Schemer  181 

"Jes'  tol'a'ble,  sah,  jes'  tol'a'ble," 
Uncle  Sam  trebled  politely. 

"  Well,  how  do  you  like  our  city?  " 
hailed  the  doctor  again. 

"  Pretty  well,  sah,"  Uncle  Sam  re 
turned. 

The  doctor  felt  there  was  some  reserve 
in  this  answer,  halted  by  the  old  darky's 
side,  and  knowing  how  to  win  confidence, 
he  did  not  cease  his  questions  until  he 
had  drawn  out  the  fact  that  Uncle  Sam 
"  wasn't  used  to  so  much  fuss  nights,  and 
that  though  he  wan'  to  say  '  skeered,'  it 
was  powerful  lonesome  out  in  that  barn 
nights."  "  De  norf  is  a  lonesome  place 
fer  niggers,  anyways,  doctor,"  the  old 
man  ended. 

"Then,  too,"  he  went  on  again, 
"  Mammy  Sue  ain't  jes'  satisfied  in  de 
house.  You  see,  Miss  Martha  makes  her 
sleep  in  one  er  de  good  back  bedrooms, 


182  The  Blossom  Shop 

'cause  she  says  'tain'  sanitous,  er  some- 
thin',  fer  too  many  ter  sleep  in  one  room, 
an'  won't  let  her  sleep  on  de  flo'  by  de 
chillun  lack  she  want  ter  do.  Sue  say 
she  ain'  used  ter  sleepin'  in  white  folkes 
beds  in  a  room  by  herself,  an'  she  don't 
want  to  disqualify  her  chillun,  Miss 
Hannie  an'  Miss  May,  in  no  sech  a 
way." 

"  Well,  now,"  said  the  doctor  wick 
edly,  "  why  don't  you  and  Mammy  Sue 
get  married  right  off  and  then  she  can 
stay  with  you,  and  she'll  be  satisfied,  and 
you  won't  be  lonesome  any  more." 

"  Jes'  what  I  tells  her,  doctor,"  cried 
the  old  negro  excitedly.  "  She  done 
promise  ter  marry  me  'fore  we  left  home. 
Wid  Miss  Alice  and  Miss  Gene  gone  I 
didn't  have  no  fam'bly,  an'  I  'bleeged  to 
have  somebody  to  take  keer  on,"  he  ended 
apologetically. 


An  Arch  Schemer  183 

"  Don't  say  a  word  more,"  said  the 
doctor,  putting  out  his  hand.  "  I'll  fix 
that  thing  all  up  for  you,"  and  he  went 
down  the  street  chuckling  with  an  occa 
sional  big  "  ha,  ha,"  as  he  exclaimed: 

"  A  l  nigger '  wedding  at  Miss 
Martha's!  I'll  fix  that  sure!" 

And  he  did!  Nobody  ever  knew  how 
he  managed  it  with  Miss  Martha,  but 
that  good  lady  had  become  helpless  in  his 
hands,  having  completely  lost  her  bear 
ings  with  the  sudden  invasion  of  her  quiet 
spinsterhood.  With  her  consent  won,  the 
doctor  next  called  Mrs.  Grey  and  Mr. 
Carter  into  the  parlor  and  put  the  matter 
before  them.  It  was  discussed  with  great 
animation  by  Alice  Grey,  who  thought  it 
altogether  malapropos  from  every  stand 
point,  and  the  doctor,  with  his  forelock 
bobbing  energetically,  would  see  no  ob 
jection,  declared  Miss  Martha  had  none, 


184  The  Blossom  Shop 

with  the  result  that  he  again  had  his  way. 
Mr.  Carter  listened  in  quiet  amusement, 
taking  no  part  in  the  discussion. 

The  doctor  did  not  linger  after  win 
ning  his  case,  and  left  Alice  Grey  and 
Mr.  Carter  standing  in  the  parlor  alone 
together  for  the  first  time  since  his  com 
ing. 

She  was  between  laughter  and  tears, 
and  turning  an  appealing  face  to  him,  she 
said: 

"  What  do  you  think  of  this  absurd 
thing?" 

She  did  not  dream  how  beautiful  she 
was  in  a  becoming,  modish  gown  with 
her  face  full  of  April  charm. 

He  braced  his  broad  shoulders  and  put 
his  arms  firmly  behind  his  back  as  he 
looked  down  hungrily  into  her  eyes. 

"  I  should  not  worry  about  it  if  I  were 
you,"  he  answered  finally.  "  You  are  not 


HE    LOOKED    DOWN    HUNGRILY   INTO    HER    EYES. 


An  Arch  Schemer  185 

responsible  for  it  in  the  least,  the  two  old 
children  will  be  happy,  —  and  happiness 
is  somewhat  rare." 

His  voice,  always  full  and  mellow, 
dropped  into  sadness  as  he  added  the  last 
phrase,  while  his  eyes  turned  away  from 
her. 

She  took  a  step  nearer  to  him,  and  look 
ing  up  again  with  something  pregnant 
of  tender  things  in  her  own  expressive 
gaze,  she  said  softly: 

"  You  have  made  me  very  happy  by 
coming  to  me  in  my  great  trouble  and 
helping  to  bring  my  Gene  back  to  health 
and  strength." 

Her  voice  quivered  a  little  at  the  last 
and  she  almost  touched  his  arm  with  out- 
reaching  fingers,  but  he  looked  stead 
fastly  away,  setting  his  lips  firmly  as  his 
strong  will  vociferated  blindly,  "  I  will 
not  rob  her  of  her  wealth,"  silencing  the 


186  The  Blossom  Shop 

yearning  of  his  heart  to  take  her  in  his 
arms,  whether  or  no. 

Her  eyes  finally  fell  with  a  startled, 
hurt  look  and  she  walked  slowly  out  of 
the  room,  while  he  remained  immovable, 
with  clenched  hands  still  behind  his  back. 

The  house  was  soon  in  excitement  over 
the  wedding,  —  the  very  first  to  take 
place  within  its  walls.  The  children 
were  in  a  perfect  glee  over  it,  Miss 
Martha  smiled  in  a  way  that  relieved 
Mrs.  Grey  entirely,  and  even  the  house 
servants  went  about  their  work  with  sub 
dued  gaiety. 

Mammy  Sue  had  been  very  obstreper 
ous  at  first,  saying,  "  No,  indeed,  she  wan' 
gwine  to  marry  twell  she  got  home,"  but 
Uncle  Sam,  with  the  skill  of  masculinity 
which  the  ages  have  constantly  demon 
strated,  over- rode  her  objection. 


An  Arch  Schemer  187 

When  Miss  Martha  and  Mrs.  Grey 
asked  about  the  wedding  gown  with 
feminine  solicitude  it  turned  out  that  a 
white  swiss  dress  with  long  train,  orange 
blossoms  and  veil,  white  gloves  and  satin 
slippers  had  all  been  carefully  packed  in 
the  bottom  of  the  Carter  children's  trunk! 

Mrs.  Grey  and  Miss  Martha  laughed 
together  like  two  girls  when  the  wedding 
finery  was  displayed  to  them.  All  the 
pent-up  gaiety  of  Miss  Martha's  nature, 
which  was  her  natural  New  England  in 
heritance,  and  which,  as  in  many  another 
instance,  had  been  held  in  rigid  subjec 
tion  by  life-time  repression,  suddenly 
overflowed  its  bounds  in  riotous  freedom. 

"  Why,  Mammy  Sue,  how  did  you  hap 
pen  to  bring  them?  "  asked  Miss  Martha 
when  she  could  find  voice.  Mrs.  Grey, 
knowing  the  negro  capacity  for  unexpect 
edness,  was  less  surprised. 


188  The  Blossom  Shop 

Mammy  Sue  laughed  with  them  and 
then  explained  with  the  accustomed  bluff 
belligerency  that  she  used  whenever  Sam 
was  concerned: 

"  Why,  dat  Sam  he  nuver  give  me  no 
res'  day  nor  night  twell  I  got  um,  an' 
promised  to  marry  him  soon's  Miss  Alice 
cum  back,  —  an'  when  I  cum  'way  fum 
home  'course  I  wan'  gwine  leave  um  fer 
no  nigger  ter  steal!  "  Which  was  timely 
discretion  beyond  dispute. 

Uncle  Sam  proved  to  have  been 
equally  forehanded  in  the  acquisition  of 
his  new  suit  for  the  journey,  which  with 
the  additional  purchase  of  white  gloves 
and  a  white  tie  completed  his  wedding 
outfit. 

So  in  the  evening  of  that  day  the  grim 
old  Grey  homestead  was  lit  from  top  to 
bottom  while  the  minister  and  a  little 
company  of  neighbors  and  friends  who 


An  Arch  Schemer  189 

had  been  lately  dropping  in,  in  the  de 
lightful,  neighborly  fashion  of  New  Eng 
land,  gathered  in  the  parlor.  The  chil 
dren  fluttered  here  and  there  in  pretty 
party  dresses,  Gene  winning  every  heart 
with  her  sweet,  upturned  face,  round 
and  rosy,  reaching  out  eager  little  hands 
to  everybody,  —  once  more  in  a  world 
of  love  and  light,  —  while  the  doctor 
strutted  about,  his  genial  radiance  in  full 
sway  and  acting  as  chief  dignitary  of  the 
occasion. 

Gene  sat  by  Miss  Martha  at  last,  every 
body  breathlessly  waiting  the  entrance  of 
the  bride  and  groom.  She  drew  the  dear 
auntie's  face  down  and  whispered  ecstat 
ically,  "  I  have  always  so  wanted  a  wed 
ding  at  my  own  dear  home,  and  now  I 
have  one,"  and  Miss  Martha  smiled  back 
into  the  little  face  with  a  tenderness  that 
made  the  neighbors  and  friends  exchange 


190  The  Blossom  Shop 

glances  with  a  mist  in  their  eyes.  Home 
had  expanded  at  last  for  the  small  her 
mit  heart,  linking  North  and  South  indis- 
solubly. 

At  a  signal  from  the  doctor,  Mrs. 
Grey  began  playing  a  wedding  march 
upon  the  old  piano  which  had  not  been 
opened  for  many,  many  years,  the  min 
ister  stood  in  place  and  there  was  a  hush 
as  the  unique  bridal  couple  appeared. 
Mammy  Sue  in  all  her  bridal  finery,  her 
portly  ebony  shoulders  and  arms  showing 
prominently  through  the  white  Swiss, 
hung  upon  Uncle  Sam's  proud  arm, 
while  he  struggled  to  make  his  rheumatic 
gait  firm  and  gallant,  his  black  face  with 
its  snowy  fringe  shining  with  happi 
ness. 

The  simple  ceremony  was  solemnly 
said,  a  prayer  followed,  and  then  the 
happy  couple  bowed  right  and  left 


An  Arch  Schemer  191 

as  everybody  offered  congratulations. 
Mammy  Sue  said  to  Sam  later,  —  in  the 
privacy  of  the  bridal  chamber  out  in  the 
barn,  —  after  she  had  put  "  her  chillun  " 
to  bed  as  usual,  "  Ever'  thing  was  done 
jes'  like  southern  quality  would  er  done 
it.  I  know  now  dat  Miss  Marthy  is  qual 
ity,  but  I'm  'bleeged  to  say  I  done  had 
my  doubts  wid  me  er  sleepin'  in  dat  good 
bedroom." 

The  doctor's  congratulations  had  been 
most  hearty  and  his  white  forelock  never 
flopped  more  merrily  than  when  he 
slipped  into  the  bride's  hand  a  ten  dollar 
gold  piece  for  a  wedding  present  before 
hurrying  off  to  answer  some  call.  He 
patted  Gene  upon  the  head  a  moment  at 
leaving,  and  said  with  gay  bluster  in  her 
ear: 

"  I  tell  you,  that  Blossom  Shop  of 
Eugene  Grey  &  Co.  is  doing  a  thriving 


192  The  Blossom  Shop 

business  scattering  the  bloom  of  happi 
ness!  " 

The  little  girl  laughed  back  merrily; 
she  always  delighted  in  his  references  to 
their  "  Blossom  Shop,"  and  though  she 
did  not  fully  comprehend,  greatly  en 
joyed  his  figurative  applications. 

"  Nothing  like  getting  things  started," 
he  chuckled  to  himself  as  he  went  down 
the  steps.  "  There's  another  wedding 
which  ought  to  take  place,  if  I'm  any 
judge  of  symptoms,  —  and,  on  my  soul, 
if  Miss  Martha  keeps  on  growing  young 
and  pretty  and  tractable  as  she  has  the 
past  week,  there'll  be  two!  Blamed  if 
I  ain't  getting  over  my  awe  of  that  old 
house." 

Seated  with  Mr.  Carter  that  night  after 
the  wedding,  before  the  comfortable  log 
fire  of  his  living-room,  it  being  a  cool 
June  day,  he  turned  suddenly  and  said: 


An  Arch  Schemer  193 

"  That's  the  way  of  happiness,  Mr. 
Carter!" 

A  quiet  smile  was  Mr.  Carter's  only 
reply,  and  the  doctor  then  burst  out  with : 

"  Don't  you  know  faint  heart  never 
won  fair  lady?  Go  in  and  win,  —  you 
need  her  and  your  children  need  her." 

John  Carter  sat  silent  a  moment  and 
then  he  replied: 

"  That  is  true,  but  you  have  not  seen 
her  struggle  with  poverty  as  I  have,  and 
do  you  think  I  would  rob  her  now?  She 
no  longer  needs  me,"  he  added  firmly. 

"  Money,  money!  "  exclaimed  the  doc 
tor  vehemently,  "  I've  seen  its  futility  as 
far  as  happiness  is  concerned,  and  if  I 
read  that  little  woman  aright,  she  would 
rather  have  your  love  than  millions.  As 
for  the  child,  you  would  not  rob  her." 

"  You  do  not  know  all  that  I  do,"  Mr. 
Carter  returned  with  quiet  finality. 


194  The  Blossom  Shop 

Then  the  doctor  fumed  good-naturedly; 
he  knew  well  he  must  not  venture  too  far. 
"  Here  I  got  up  this  wedding  to  show 
you  two  the  thing  to  do,  and  I  believe, 
on  my  soul,  it  is  going  to  be  wasted,  unless 
I  can  persuade  Miss  Martha-  And 
Mr.  Carter  laughed  in  turn,  urging  him 
on. 

The  next  day,  when  the  doctor  was  at 
the  house,  he  found  opportunity  to  say 
slyly  to  Mrs.  Grey,  with  the  stern  look  in 
full  evidence,  but  wrinkles  threatening 
capture  of  the  keen  eyes  as  he  glanced  sig 
nificantly  over  at  Mr.  Carter,  "  As  I  un 
derstand  it,  the  business  of  Eugene  Grey 
&  Co.  is  to  market  the  products  of  sun 
shine, —  joy  and  happiness,  —  be  careful 
that  you  do  not  go  out  of  your  line.  It 
never  pays  to  deal  in  stock  alien  to  your 
main  business." 

Again  he  found  a  chance  to  approach 


An  Arch  Schemer  195 

her  when  alone  from  a  different  an 
gle. 

"  Mrs.  Grey,  I  am  persuaded  that  the 
Blossom  Shop  is  neglecting  a  great  op 
portunity  to  enlarge  its  business  of  dis 
pensing  happiness,  and  of  putting  it  on  a 
permanent  basis.  Two  motherless  chil 
dren  and  a  lonely  man,  —  how  can  you 
ignore  their  need?  " 

She  looked  up,  startled  at  the  real  ear 
nestness  of  his  usually  jolly  voice,  as  she 
knew  it,  and  her  eyes  fell  at  the  keenness 
of  his  gaze.  He  seemed  to  arraign  her 
and  she  suddenly  felt  herself  without  de 
fense.  But  he  turned  away  instantly,  and 
she  did  not  need  to  make  reply. 

There  were  a  few  days  more  of  gaiety 
in  the  old  house,  and  then  the  Carters, 
with  the  bride  and  groom,  the  parrot  and 
puppies,  went  back  to  Alabama  and 
things  were  more  quiet.  But  the  gloom 


196  The  Blossom  Shop 

did  not  return  to  the  old  place  for  Gene. 
She  had  learned  every  nook  and  corner 
with  the  happy  guiding  hands  of  Hannie 
and  May  and  no  depression  came  upon 
her  as  they  left.  Business  matters  had 
moved  on  satisfactorily,  but  everything 
was  not  in  final  shape,  and  Gene  being  in 
perfect  physical  condition,  Mrs.  Grey 
decided,  with  Dr.  Murton's  entire  ap 
proval,  to  take  the  little  girl  at  once  to 
New  York  for  examination,  and  if  all 
seemed  well,  to  plan  at  least  for  an 
operation. 

So  it  came  about  that  they  were  soon 
before  the  great  oculist  to  whom  they 
had  long  dreamed  of  going. 


CHAPTER   XV 

UNFOLDINGS 


a  careful  examination  of  the 
little  one's  eyes  the  famous  oculist  cried 
buoyantly: 

"  I  can  almost  say  I  know  I  can  give 
sight  to  this  child." 

And  then  they  trod  on  air  as  they 
walked  down  Broadway  with  an  appoint 
ment  for  the  operation  two  days  distant. 
Their  shining  faces  made  more  than  one 
passer-by  turn  back  for  a  second  look. 

"  Oh,  Gene,"  cried  Mrs.  Grey,  sud 
denly  stopping  before  a  florist's  beauti 
ful  show-window,  and  looking  at  the 
firm's  name  upon  the  sign. 

"'Shaw   &   Co.'     Why,    that   is    the 

197 


198  The  Blossom  Shop 

name  of  the  firm  who  were  so  good  to  us, 
told  us  how  to  pack  our  cape  jessamines 
and  how  to  manage  our  smilax,  and,  yes, 
this  is  the  old  address!  " 

Gene  clasped  her  hands  in  joy. 

"  Oh,  mother,  let's  go  in  and  see 
him!" 

They  did,  and  taking  from  her  purse 
one  of  her  business  cards  with  Eugene 
Grey  &  Co.  and  her  home  address  upon 
it,  Mrs.  Grey  led  the  child  into  the  store 
and  sent  the  card  back  to  Mr.  Shaw,  who 
was  in  the  office,  the  clerk  informed  her. 

The  clerk  returned  a  moment  later, 
looking  a  little  bewildered,  but  said  Mr. 
Shaw  would  be  glad  to  see  Eugene  Grey 
&  Co.  at  once. 

With  a  happy  smile,  Mrs.  Grey  went 
back  with  Gene  and  enjoyed  the  amaze 
ment  of  a  kindly  gray-haired  man  when 
the  little  girl  with  pretty  outreaching 


Unfoldings  199 

hands  was  introduced  to  him  as  Eugene 
Grey  of  Eugene  Grey  &  Co. 

Mr.  Shaw  put  his  arms  about  the  child 
while  sudden  tears  filled  his  eyes,  and  the 
eyes  of  the  mother  as  well. 

"  Please  tell  me  all  about  it,"  he  said. 

"  There  is  little  to  tell  you,"  she  re 
turned,  "  except  that  it  was  necessary  for 
us  to  do  something,  and  the  flowers 
opened  a  way.  My  little  Gene  was 
named  for  her  father,  and  we  thought  her 
name  would  sound  more  business-like  to 
strange,  far-away  dealers." 

"  Do  you  know,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Shaw 
suddenly,  looking  down  upon  the  little 
head  at  his  knee,  "  that  Eugene  Qrey  & 
Co.  discovered  the  smilax  as  a  marketable 
product,  and  opened  up  a  wonderful  in 
dustry  for  the  Southern  States?  " 

"  I  know,"  Mrs.  Grey  returned, 
smiling,  "  that  some  people  kindly  give 


200  The  Blossom  Shop 

us  credit  for  it,  but  several  others,  I  hear, 
began  shipping  it  about  the  time  we  did, 
and  it  is  an  open  question  as  to  who  was 
the  real  discoverer." 

"  I  shall  vote  for  Eugene  Grey  &  Co.," 
he  said  warmly. 

The  city  florist  was  all  friendly  interest 
in  the  well-remembered  firm  which  had 
revealed  so  unique  and  charming  a  per 
sonality,  and  regretted  and  rejoiced  to 
learn  that  they  had  gone  out  of  business. 
He  also  heard  with  joy  of  the  happy  pros 
pect  in  store  two  days  later.  He  seemed 
so  like  an  old  friend,  and  they  were  so 
happy  Mrs.  Grey  could  not  forbear  tell 
ing  him  something  of  all  their  good  for 
tune. 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  when  the 
bandage  was  about  to  be  removed  from 
the  child's  eyes  after  a  most  satisfactory 
operation,  a  large  box  of  beautiful  cape 


"'OH,  OH,  CAPE  JESSAMINE!'  CRIED  THE  CHILD,  AS 
HER  GAZE  FELL  UPON  THE  FLOWER." 


Un  foldings  201 

jessamines  with  Mr.  Shaw's  card  at 
tached  was  waiting  for  her  at  the  doctor's 
office,  and  when  the  wonderful  moment 
came,  a  starry,  white  southern  blossom 
lay  in  the  child's  lap. 

The  bandage  was  lifted  in  breathless 
silence. 

"Oh,  oh,  cape  jessamine!"  cried  the 
child,  as  her  gaze  fell  upon  the  flower, 
its  peculiar  fragrance  and  her  ready 
ringers  identifying  its  beauty.  Then, 
"  Mother,  mother,"  she  breathed,  as  Mrs. 
Grey  knelt  before  her. 

No  need  for  little  ringers  to  identify 
there.  No  other  face  could  hold  that 
rapture. 

Such  a  simple  thing  it  was  at  last  to 
have  meant  so  much:  all  the  years  of 
longing  and  struggle,  all  the  hoping  and 
despairing,  all  the  sacrifice,  all  the  plead 
ing  with  God. 


202  The  Blossom  Shop 

Such  happiness  as  came  to  Alice  Grey 
with  the  sight  of  her  child  is  only  known 
to  those  to  whom  has  first  come  the  terri 
ble  truth,  "My  baby  is  blind!"  With 
this  background  it  was  not  a  happiness  in 
the  moment  of  fulfillment  for  gay  exu 
berance,  —  the  rather  for  ready  tears,  it 
seemed  to  Gene's  mother.  The  little  girl 
saw  them  often  in  her  mother's  eyes  with 
that  wonderful  new  process  of  vision, 
and  felt  them  on  her  cheek  as  the  caress 
ing  fingers  still  loved  to  make  discov 
ery  in  the  old  dear  way,  while  they 
lingered  in  New  York  for  a  time,  wait 
ing  the  great  surgeon's  permission  to 
leave. 

Finally  the  tears  troubled  the  child, 
who  came  to  know  intuitively  that  some 
special  sorrow  as  well  as  joy  was  creep 
ing  into  the  mother-heart.  She  would 
wipe  them  away  with  her  bit  of  a 


Unfold  ings  203 

handkerchief  and  ask  over  and  over, 
"  Mother,  what  makes  you  cry? " 

And  again  and  again,  the  answer 
came,  "Why,  darling,  I  do  not  know;  I 
am  very,  very  happy,  but  I  guess  I  am 
very  tired." 

They  had  a  small  suite  of  rooms  at  a 
great  hotel,  with  a  sunny  sitting-room, 
bedroom  and  bath,  that  Gene  might  have 
the  best  of  conditions  in  which  to  recu 
perate  from  the  operation,  but  it  was  a 
very  lonely  spot  with  the  tumult  of  a 
great  city  surrounding  it,  and  only  un 
heeding  strangers  when  they  stepped  be 
yond  it.  All  was  so  different  from  the 
little  old  Alabama  town.  And  then  the 
thought  followed  overwhelmingly  that 
there  was  no  longer  any  home  in  the 
South  waiting  for  them.  The  old  house 
had  long  stood  for  near  kindred  with  her, 
and  it  was  gone!  She  knew  that  pressure 


204  The  Blossom  Shop 

would  be  brought  to  keep  her  in  the 
North  for  Gene's  education,  and  she 
wanted  the  child's  training  to  be  na 
tional,  not  narrow  or  sectional;  part  of 
it  must  come  from  the  fine  old  girls'  col 
lege  of  her  home  town,  —  but  what  had 
she  to  go  back  to  in  the  South?  Only  the 
graves  and  the  ashes  of  her  home.  Then 
she  next  recognized  that  there  was  al 
ways  inner  protest  when  she  thought  of 
taking  any  money  from  the  Grey  estate, 
much  as  she  had  learned  to  love  Aunt 
Martha.  She  was  glad  for  Gene  to  have 
what  was  hers  by  right  of  birth,  but  no 
blood  of  the  Greys  ran  in  her  veins,  - 
and  somehow  she  would  rather  not  take 
it.  Perhaps  because  she  had  forfeited 
her  right  to  it  by  bitterness  of  heart.  Oh, 
if  John  had  only  asked  her  after  she 
knew  of  Gene's  inheritance,  —  but  he 
hadn't,  and  she  knew  he  wouldn't.  Per- 


Unfoldings  205 

haps  he  did  not  care  any  longer  for  her, 
she  had  repulsed  him  so  often.  And 
her  spirit  sank  low  at  the  thought.  A 
sense  of  unprotected  loneliness  engulfed 
her. 

So  the  moment  of  relaxation  from  in 
tense  excitement  had  brought  an  endless 
round  of  thought  that  wore  heavily  upon 
Alice  Grey.  She  had  full  opportunity 
for  reflection,  as  Gene  was  so  delighted 
with  seeing  that  she  would  stand  at  the 
window  looking  out  as  long  as  her  not 
yet  strong  eyes  allowed,  finger  delight 
edly  bits  of  ribbon  of  varied  colors,  or 
interest  herself  in  examining  numberless 
things  which  held  new  fascination  for 
her  within. 

There  came  strange  reproach  and  re 
gret,  too,  into  that  endless  round  of 
thought  for  Alice  Grey.  It  almost 
seemed  that  the  new  sense  of  sight  which 


206  The  Blossom  Shop 

had  come  to  the  child  had  penetrated  the 
recesses  of  the  mother's  heart,  and  laid 
bare  its  unworthiness.  She  had  felt  be 
fore  that  it  was  sufficient  to  turn  the  sun 
lit  side  always  to  the  child,  but  now  for 
this  keen  new  vision  there  must  be  no 
shadow  of  unworthiness. 

She  grew  timorous  and  dejected  as  she 
brooded,  finally  concluding  that  she  had 
failed  fundamentally  in  faith  and  trust. 
The  new  joy  was  not  complete  because 
she  had  never  trusted  God  fully;  she  had 
worn  herself  out  with  single-handed  ef 
fort  when  He  had  given  her  John  Carter 
who  would  gladly  have  shared  her  strug 
gle,  and  now  would  be  sharing  her  joy. 
But  she  had  refused  his  help  in  stubborn 
pride  and  God  had  punished  her  by 
sweeping  all  her  resources  away  with 
ruthless  flame,  performing  the  blessed 
miracle  Himself,  it  was  true,  but  leaving 


Unfolding*  207 

them  alone  at  last  without  sweet  home 
ties  and  dear  home-sharers  of  joy,  which 
had  once  been  theirs  to  accept. 

She  had  been  self-righteous  and  bitten, 
too,  when  she  had  thought  herself  only 
self-respecting.  Had  her  heart  been  sweet 
and  pure,  she  would  have  opened  the 
trunk  which  came  long  years  before  and 
lovingly  have  taken  out  the  things  which 
she  knew  Mother  Grey  would  have  been 
glad  for  her  to  use  in  her  need,  and  the 
fateful  paper  with  its  message  of  joy  and 
relief  would  have  come  to  light  and 
spared  her  little  girl  years  of  darkness, 
and  herself  years  of  fruitless  struggle. 
But  she  had  been  too  proud,  too  bitter  to 
touch  the  things  which  held  release.  It 
was  true  she  had  not  planted  bitterness 
in  the  heart  of  her  child,  but  she  had 
cherished  the  ugly  thing  in  her  own 
breast,  —  only  to  find  at  last  that  even 


208  The  Blossom  Shop 

Aunt  Martha  was  upright  and  generous, 
and  loving  too,  when  the  test  came. 

How  could  she  ever  trust  herself  to 
train  a  child  of  wealth  in  high,  unselfish 
living?  Just  two  of  them  with  all  the 
money  they  could  spend,  and  the  old  ob 
jectives  gone;  was  she  capable  of  hand 
ling  the  new  assets  of  the  firm  wisely? 
She  had  learned  how  to  steer  through  the 
perils  of  poverty,  but  the  treacherous  pos 
sibilities  of  wealth  she  knew  not  of,  and 
she  lost  faith  in  the  financial  ability  of 
the  senior  member  completely,  with  sin 
cere  doubts  as  to  her  moral  integrity  as 
well.  Indeed,  she  wholly  lost  her  bear 
ings,  and  life  for  the  time  held  no  goal. 
It  seemed  an  empty  prospect. 

Then  there  was  John,  lonely,  needing 
her;  Hannie  and  May  lacking  a  guiding 
woman's  hand  so  sorely,  —  she  could  see 
it  all  clearly  now  as  she  looked  back  to 


Un  foldings  209 

the  days  she  had  spent  in  the  motherless 
home,  —  and  that  was  what  Dr.  Murton 
meant  the  day  after  Uncle  Sam's  wed 
ding  when  he  looked  at  her  so  keenly. 
The  children  already  drifted  more  or  less 
aimlessly,  and  ere  long  would  repudiate 
Mammy  Sue's  authority  of  ignorance, 
while  her  own  Gene  needed  greatly  the 
daily  interchange  of  kindly  offices,  gentle 
forbearance  and  generous  sharing, 
which  two  sisters  would  give  her.  And 
nowhere  in  the  world,  she  felt  sure,  was 
the  other  half  of  that  choicest  thing  in 
the  universe,  a  home,  real,  complete, 
waiting  for  them. 

No,  there  was  no  one  but  John  Carter 
to  whom  she  could  link  her  life,  —  and 
he  had  gone  out  of  it  forever.  Every 
thing  would  tend  to  separate  them  more 
and  more,  and  she  was  certain  that, 
having  scorned  his  help  in  her  needy 


210  The  Blossom  Shop 

struggle  for  money,  he  would  never  come 
to  her,  a  rich  woman,  and  propose  to  rob 
her  of  her  wealth. 

In  her  agitation  she  did  not  realize 
that  there  was  ample  cause  for  chaotic 
emotion  in  the  reaction  from  months  and 
years  of  heavy  strain,  as  well  as  from  the 
recent  excitement;  she  merely  felt  her 
self  dropping  into  a  state  of  collapse  that 
frightened  her.  It  was  only  of  a  few 
days'  duration,  this  tumult  of  mind,  but 
it  proved  to  be  of  tremendous  import  in 
the  future  of  her  child  and  herself,  for, 
in  a  way  life  has  of  unfolding  a  soul,  it 
was  through  this  brief  upheaval  that  the 
old  constraints  were  broken,  the  old  nar 
rowed  interest  which  centered  in  her 
child  and  herself  began  to  broaden  and 
they  were  ushered  into  fuller,  richer  ex 
perience. 

A  little  incident  brought  the  crisis. 


Unfolding*  211 

Gene  hung  over  her  mother  one  eve 
ning  when  the  strain  told  plainly  in  the 
loved  face. 

"  Oh,  mother,"  said  the  child  at  last, 
smiling  in  sudden  merriment  with  a 
happy  flash  of  thought,  "  send  for  Mr. 
Carter  and  Hannie  and  May  and  Uncle 
Sam  and  Mammy  Sue  and  the  parrot 
and  the  puppies!  They  will  make  you 
all  right  as  they  did  me." 

And  Alice  Grey's  heart  halted  in  its 
beating.  Should  she,  indeed,  send  for 
John  Carter,  creep  into  his  arms  and  beg 
him  to  take  care  of  her  and  Gene?  That 
was  the  only  way,  she  knew,  he  would 
ever  come,  —  and  O,  what  a  relief  it 
would  be  to  turn  over  all  the  business,  all 
the  responsibility  to  him,  and  just  rest  in 
his  love  and  care!  Yet,  how  could  she 
violate  all  her  womanly  instincts? 

But  desperation  was  upon  her  that  eve- 


212  The  Blossom  Shop 

ning:  she  was  withholding  the  sunlight 
from  her  child  for  the  first  time  in  her 
life,  and  just  when  the  little  one  was 
ready  to  take  in  every  glinting  ray  of 
prismatic  color! 

She  laughed  almost  hysterically  over 
Gene's  suggestion  after  that  rapid  mental 
recapitulation,  and  then  with  the  glee 
upon  her,  she  said: 

"  I  will,  darling,  this  moment,  —  that 
is,  I  will  send  for  John  —  Mr.  Carter, 
make  him  come  and  get  us  and  take  us 
back  just  as  soon  as  possible  to  Hannie 
and  May  and  all  the  rest." 

And  speedily  another  telegram  went 
southward  to  the  little  Alabama  town. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

LOVE  BLOSSOMS 


JOHN  CARTER  sat  alone  in  the 
library  when  the  message  was  handed 
him.  The  children  had  gone  up-stairs 
to  bed.  He,  too,  was  unusually  de 
pressed,  for  he  had  been  trying  that  eve 
ning  to  compass  the  impossible  for  him, 
to  fill  their  mother's  place.  He  had  told 
them  of  little  faults  that  needed  correct 
ing.  Gently,  tenderly  he  had  done  it,  but 
had  only  succeeded  in  depressing  them 
and  himself.  As  they  went  dejectedly 
out  at  last,  he  sat  staring  dully  into  space. 
Then  the  message  was  suddenly  laid 
before  him. 

213 


214  The  Blossom  Shop 

"  We  are  well,  but  need  you.  Please 
come  at  once. 

"  Signed,  ALICE  GREY." 

He  was  startled,  alarmed.  Had  some 
new  trouble  befallen  them?  "  Both  are 
well,"  he  reassured  himself.  Then  it 
must  be  some  trouble  about  the  transfer 
of  the  estate.  His  heart  leaped  at  the 
thought  —  perhaps  there  was  some  fail 
ure  —  and  Alice  had  turned  to  him. 
Then  he  sternly  rebuked  himself  and 
braced  his  shoulders,  declaring  vehe 
mently:  "  If  there  is  any  technicality  that 
the  law  can  get  around,  I  will  ferret  it 
out!" 

Of  course  he  went  on  the  morning's 
out-going  train,  kissing  his  little  girls 
with  infinite  tenderness  in  atonement  for 
the  night's  rebuke. 

Impatiently  he  sped  along  till  the  jour- 


Love  Blossoms  215 

ney's  end  was  reached,  and  a  cab  ride 
across  the  city  carried  him  to  the  little 
suite  of  rooms  in  the  great  hotel  where 
Alice  Grey  was  waiting  in  alternate 
modest  uncertainty  and  unrestrained 

joy- 
Gene    was    asleep;     her   mother   had 

not  told  her  of  the  telephone  mes 
sage  which  announced  Mr.  Carter's  ar 
rival,  and  the  child  had  gone  to  sleep 
as  usual. 

The  rap  upon  the  sitting-room  door 
came  at  last,  and  she  opened  it  for  John 
Carter  with  a  trembling  hand. 

He  stepped  within,  eyes  alight,  but 
holding  himself  in  perfect  composure. 

A  moment  she  stood  poised  before  him 
as  they  gazed  into  one  another's  eyes,  for 
getting  the  formalities  of  greeting. 
Then  her  face  grew  tremulous,  child 
like,  and  putting  out  her  hands,  she  ran 


216  The  Blossom  Shop 

to  him  and  hid  it  on  his  breast.  Tender 
arms  were  about  her  instantly,  while  he 
murmured: 

"  What  is  it?    Tell  me." 

She  could  only  sob  a  moment,  and  then 
came  a  little  struggling  laugh. 

"John,  it  is  nothing  —  but  I  want  you 
-  take  us,  please." 

He  held  her  close  a  moment  more  in 
the  pent-up  tenderness  of  years,  then  re 
straining  himself  with  sudden  remem 
brance,  he  led  her  to  a  seat  and  firmly 
said: 

"  But  we  must  talk  things  over  first, 
Alice.  I  must  make  you  see  that  this  is 
folly." 

And  this  he  tried  to  do,  but  vainly. 
Instead  she  made  him  see  that  she  wanted 
no  money  for  herself,  —  she  would  far 
rather  add  to  the  possessions  of  the  heart 
by  gathering  into  it  Hannie  and  May 


Love  Blossoms  217 

and  himself,  —  and  being  only,  after  all, 
of  common,  human  clay,  he  could  not 
resist  the  sweetness  of  her  plea. 

Next  morning  the  hills  untied  their 
bonnets  most  merrily,  and  the  bobolinks 
began  in  full-throated  joyousness. 

Then  the  secret  was  unfolded.  There 
was  to  be  a  wedding,  —  and  mother  was 
to  be  the  bride!  And  they  and  Mr.  Car 
ter  and  Hannie  and  May  were  to  belong 
to  each  other.  Gene  was  in  ecstasy. 
When  was  the  wedding  —  their  own 
beautiful  wedding  —  to  be? 

Well,  —  perhaps  that  night! 

"Oh!  Oh!"  And  the  little  girl  was 
overcome  with  wonder. 

"  I  do  wish  Hannie  and  May  could 
come,"  said  the  child. 

"Yes,  I  do  too,"  replied  Mrs.  Grey 
earnestly,  "  but  that  hardly  seems  possi- 


218  The  Blossom  Shop 

ble,  darling;   Mr.  Carter  and  I  talked  it 
all  over." 

Gene  thought  a  moment  and  then  ex 
claimed:  "But,  —  can't  we  have  Aunt 
Martha,  —  dear  Aunt  Martha?" 

Mrs.  Grey  was  disconcerted  at  first. 
Then  she  said  quietly,  "  I  will  see,  - 
perhaps  we  can."  And  the  result  was 
that  the  wedding  was  postponed  two  days 
and  two  letters  went  to  the  New  England 
town,  one  inviting  Miss  Martha  and  tell 
ing  the  story  of  love  and  waiting  and  re 
nunciation,  the  other  from  Mr.  Carter 
to  Dr.  Murton,  begging  him  to  be  best 
man  at  the  wedding. 

When  Miss  Martha  received  hers  she 
was  shocked,  indignant,  resentful,  and 
stubbornly  decided  she  would  not  go. 
But  a  visit  from  Dr.  Murton  with  strenu 
ous  effort  brought  a  change  of  mind  and 
the  two  went  together  for  the  sacred 


Love  Blossoms  219 

ceremony    in    the    small    hotel    sitting- 
room. 

When  it  was  over  at  high  noon,  and 
refreshments  had  been  served  for  the  lit 
tle  group,  Miss  Martha  drew  Gene  to 
her  and  said  sadly,  for  she  had  been 
greatly  disappointed  that  Alice  would 
not  share  in  the  Grey  estate: 

"  Little  girl,  do  you  know  how  much 
money  is  going  to  be  yours?  " 

"No,"  returned  the  child  wonder- 
ingly. 

Miss  Martha  named  a  large  sum. 

"  Oh,"  said  Gene  slowly,  not  compre 
hending,  but  realizing  it  was  a  great  deal. 
"All  that  for  one  little  blind  girl  who 
can  see?  " 

A  tearful  stillness  fell  upon  them  all. 
Then  suddenly  the  child  ran  up  to  Dr. 
Murton  and  her  face  was  a  marvel  of 
radiance.  Laying  her  little  hand  upon 


220  The  Blossom  Shop 

his  cheek  (a  trick  of  her  blindness  which 
she  had  not  yet  dropped),  she  said: 

"  Doctor,  are  there  many  little  blind 
children  in  the  world?  " 

"  Yes,"  answered  the  doctor  sadly,  "  I 
am  afraid  there  are." 

"  And  some  that  could  be  made  to  see 
as  I  have  been  if  their  mothers  had  the 
money  to  take  them  to  the  great  doc 
tor?  " 

"  I  think  so,  little  Johnny-jump-up," 
replied  the  doctor,  looking  tenderly 
down  into  the  small  earnest  face. 

Then  she  turned  quickly  to  her 
mother: 

"  Oh,  mother,  dearest,  mayn't  I  give 
some  of  it  to  help  those  blind  children  to 
see?" 

There  was  silence  again  for  a  moment 
and  at  last  her  mother  turned  to  Mr. 
Carter  and  said  quietly: 


Love  Blossoms  221 

"  Could  it  be  managed  legally?  " 

"  I  think  so,  —  through  Miss  Martha 
it  can  be  handled  within  the  demands  of 
law,  —  if  she  is  willing,"  he  replied 
slowly. 

And  at  that  moment  Miss  Martha,  not 
noticing  what  he  had  said,  but  with  eyes 
full  of  tears,  cried  tremulously: 

"  Child,  let  your  old  aunty  share  with 
you  in  this,  —  I  will  build  a  sanatorium 
to  which  the  children  shall  come." 

And  before  the  talk  was  over  it  was 
arranged  that  Dr.  Murton  should  give 
his  time  largely  to  looking  up  the  chil 
dren  in  Alabama  and  Massachusetts,  — 
for  this  philanthropic  plan  was  to  link 
North  and  South  in  its  beneficence. 

Dr.  Murton  rubbed  his  hands  in  glee 
at  last.  "  I  have  wanted  to  belong  to  this 
blossom  firm  of  Eugene  Grey  &  Co.  ever 
since  I  first  heard  of  it.  Nothing  could 


222  The  Blossom  Shop 

please  me  better,  —  and  -  looking 
around  upon  the  joy  about  him,  he  laid 
a  hand  that  trembled  upon  Miss 
Martha's  arm,  but  pulling  the  restless 
forelock  vigorously  with  the  other,  he 
went  on  boldly:  "  if  it  keeps  on  pushing 
business  at  the  rate  it  has  been  doing  for 
the  past  few  weeks,  —  well,  —  there  is 
no  telling  what  Miss  Martha  and  I  may 
do!" 

And  Miss  Martha  blushed  like  a  girl 
of  sixteen!  The  doctor  saw  it,  too,  with 
a  light  in  his  eye. 

Ten  days  later,  with  business  matters 
all  arranged,  the  evening  train  from  the 
North  was  bearing  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carter 
and  Gene  Grey  into  the  little  old  Ala 
bama  town  once  more. 

Gene  sat  by  a  car  window  watching 
the  changing  sunset  and  repeating  softly: 


Love  Blossoms  223 

"  How  he  sets,  I  know  not. 
There  seemed  a  purple  stile 
Which  little  yellow  boys  and  girls 
Were  climbing  all  the  while." 

Then  the  train  rolled  into  the  little 
station  at  the  end  of  the  long  straggling 
street,  and  there  were  Hannie  and  May 
waiting  for  them,  rapturously  happy 
with  the  thought  of  father,  mother  and 
the  dearest  little  sister,  who  could  see 
with  them  all  the  beautiful  things  of  the 
world. 

They  sat  on  old  Queen's  back  ready 
to  take  Gene  up  between  them,  while 
Mammy  Sue  and  Uncle  Sam  beamed  in 
the  background. 

And  so, 

"  A  dominie  in  gray 
Put  gently  up  the  evening  bars 
And  led  the  flock  away." 

THE  END 


POLLYANNA 


*Tg  Sy  Eleanor  H.  Porte,  3B1 

Author  of  "  Miss  Billy,"  "  Miss  Billy's  Decision."  etc. 

t 

12 mo,  cloth  decorative,  illustrated,  net  $1.25;  postpaid  $1.40 


"  ENTER  Pollyanna!  She  islthe  daintiest,  dearest,  most 
irresistible  maid  you  have  met  in  all  your  journeyings  through 
Bookland.  And  you  forget  she  is  a  story  girl,  for  Pollyanna 
is  so  real  that  after  your  first  introduction  you  will  feel  the 
inner  circle  of  your  friends  has  admitted  a  new  member.  A 
brave,  winsome,  modern  American  girl,  Pollyanna  walks  into 
print  to  take  her  place  in  the  hearts  of  all  members  of  the 
family." 


Of  "  Miss  Billy  "  the  critics  have  written  as  follows: 

"  To  say  of  any  story  that  it  makes  the  reader's  heart  feel  warm  and 
happy  is  to  pay  it  praise  of  sorts,  undoubtedly.  Well,  that's  the  very  praise 
one  gives  '  Miss  Billy.'  "  —  Edwin  L.  Shuman  in  the  Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"  The  story  is  delightful  and  as  for  Billy  herself  —  she's  all  right!  "  — 
Philadelphia  Press. 

"  There  is  a  fine  humor  in  the  book,  some  good  revelation  of  character 
and  plenty  of  romance  of  the  most  unusual  order."  —  The  Philadelphia 
Inquirer. 

"  There  is  something  altogether  fascinating  about  '  Miss  Billy,'  some 
inexplicable  feminine  characteristic  that  seems  to  demand  the  individual 
attention  of  the  reader  from  the  moment  we  open  the  book  until  we  reluc 
tantly  turn  the  last  page."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

"  The  book  is  a  wholesome  story,  as  fresh  in  tone  as  it  is  graceful  in  ex 
pression,  and  one  may  predict  for  it  a  wide  audience."  — Philadelphia  Pub 
lic  Ledger. 

"  Miss  Billy  is  so  carefree,  so  original  and  charming,  that  she  lives  in  the 
reader's  memory  long  after  the  book  has  been  laid  aside."  —  Boston  Globe. 

"  You  cannot  help  but  love  dear  '  Billy; '  she  is  winsome  and  attractive 
and  you  will  be  only  too  glad  to  introduce  her  to  your  friends."  —  Brooklyn 
Eagle. 


THE  CAREER  OF  DR.  WEAVER 


Mrs.  Henry  W.  Backus  3^ 

* 
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A  BIG  and  purposeful  story  interwoven  about  the  respon 
sibilities  and  problems  in  the  medical  profession  of  the  pres 
ent  day.  Dr.  Weaver,  a  noted  specialist,  and  head  of  a  private 
hospital,  had  allowed  himself  to  drift  away  from  the  stand 
ards  of  his  youth  in  his  desire  for  wealth  and  social  and  scien 
tific  prestige.  When  an  expose  of  the  methods  employed  by 
him  in  furthering  his  schemes  for  the  glorifying  of  the  name 
of  "  Weaver  "  in  the  medical  world  is  threatened,  it  is  frus 
trated  through  the  efforts  of  the  famous  doctor's  younger 
brother,  Dr.  Jim.  The  story  is  powerful  and  compelling, 
even  if  it  uncovers  the  problems  and  temptations  of  a  physi 
cian's  career.  Perhaps  the  most  important  character,  not 
even  excepting  Dr.  Weaver  and  Dr.  Jim,  is  "  The  Girl,"  who 
plays  such  an  important  part  in  the  lives  of  both  men. 


"The  story  becomes  one  of  those  absorbing  tales  of  to-day  which  the 
reader  literally  devours  in  an  evening,  unwilling  to  leave  the  book  until  the 
last  page  is  reached,  and  constantly  alert,  through  the  skill  of  the  author,  in 
following  the  characters  through  the  twisted  ways  of  their  career."  — Boston 
Journal. 

"  The  story  is  well-written,  unique,  quite  out  of  the  usual  order,  and  is  most 
captivating."  —  Christian  Intelligencer.  Cf 

J 

V&BSXQ®^^ 


THE  HILL   OF  VENUS 

^g  £y  Nathan  Qallizicr  §^ 

Author  of  "Cartel  del  Monte."   " The  Sorceress  of  Rome."   "The 
Court  of  Lucifer,",  etc. 


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postpaid  $1,50 


THIS  is  a  vivid  and  powerful  romance  of  the  thirteenth 
century  in  the  times  of  the  great  Ghibelline  wars,  and  deals 
with  the  fortunes  of  Francesco  Villani,  a  monk,  who  has  been 
coerced  by  his  dying  father  to  bind  himself  to  the  Church 
through  a  mistaken  sense  of  duty,  but  who  loves  Ilaria,  one 
of  the  famous  beauties  of  the  Court  at  Avellino.  The  excite 
ment,  splendor  and  stir  of  those  days  of  activity  in  Rome  are 
told  with  a  vividness  and  daring,  which  give  a  singular  fas 
cination  to  the  story. 

* 

The  Press  has  commented  as  follows  on  the  author's  previous 
books: 

"  The  author  displays  many  of  the  talents  that  made  Scott  famous."  — 
The  Index. 

"  The  book  is  breathless  reading,  as  much  for  the  adventures,  the  pag 
eants,  the  midnight  excursions  of  the  minor  characters,  as  for  the  love  story 
of  the  prince  and  Donna  Lucrezia."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

"  Mr.  Gallizier  daringly  and  vividly  paints  in  glowing  word  and  phrases, 
in  sparkling  dialogue  and  colorful  narrative,  the  splendor,  glamor  and  stir 
in  those  days  of  excitement,  intrigue,  tragedy,  suspicion  and  intellectual 
activity  in  Rome."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"  A  splendid  bit  of  old  Roman  mosaic,  or  a  gorgeous  piece  of  tapestry. 
Otto  is  a  striking  and  pathetic  figure.  Description  of  the  city,  the  gorgeous 
ceremonials  of  the  court  and  the  revels  are  a  series  of  wonderful  pictures."  — 
Cincinnati  Enquirer. 

"  The  martial  spirit  of  these  stirring  times,  weird  beliefs  in  magic  and 
religion  are  most  admirably  presented  by  the  author,  who  knows  his  sub 
ject  thoroughly.  It  belongs  to  the  class  of  Bulwer-Lytton's  romances;  care 
fully  studied,  well  wrought,  and  full  of  exciting  incident."  — Cleveland  En 
quirer. 

"  Romance  at  its  best."  —  Boston  Herald. 


THE  WHAT-SHALL-I-DO  GIRL 


Or,  The  Career  of  Joy  Kent 
(By  Isold  Woodman  Waill 


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WHEN  Joy  Kent  finds  herself  alone  in  the  world,  thrown 
on  her  own  resources,  after  the  death  of  her  father,  she  looks 
about  her,  as  do  so  many  young  girls,  fresh  from  the  public 
schools,  wondering  how  she  can  support  herself  and  earn  a 
place  in  the  great  business  world  about  her.  Still  wondering, 
she  sends  a  letter  to  a  number  of  girls  she  had  known  in  school 
days,  asking  that  each  one  tell  her  just  how  she  had  equipped 
herself  for  a  salary-earning  career,  and  once  equipped,  how 
she  had  found  it  possible  to  start  on  that  career.  In  reply 
come  letters  from  the  milliner,  the  stenographer,  the  librarian, 
the  salesgirl,  the  newspaper  woman,  the  teacher,  the  nurse, 
and  from  girls  who  had  adopted  all  sorts  of  vocations  as  a 
means  of  livelihood.  Real  riendly  girl  letters  they  are,  too, 
not  of  the  type  that  preach,  but  of  the  kind  which  give  sound 
and  helpful  advice  in  a  bright  and  interesting  manner.  Of 
course  there  is  a  splendid  young  man  who  also  gives  advice. 
Any  "  What-shall-I-do  "  young  girl  can  read  of  the  careers 
suggested  for  Joy  Kent  with  profit  and  pleasure,  and,  perhaps, 
with  surprise! 


C8383KSSD8KK80K8KKK8SK 


THE  HARBOR   MASTER 

*fc  <By  Theodore  Goodridge  Roberts  Jp* 

Author  of  "  Comrades  of  the  Trail*,"  "Ray  ton  :  A  Backwoods 
Mystery,"  etc. 


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Cots.     3\£et$l.25;  postpaid  $1  .40 


THE  scene  of  the  story  is  Newfoundland.  The  story  deals 
with  the  love  of  Black  Dennis  Nolan,  a  young  giant  and  self- 
appointed  skipper  of  the  little  fishing  hamlet  of  Chance  Along, 
for  Flora  Lockhart,  a  beautiful  professional  singer,  who  is 
rescued  by  Dennis  from  a  wreck  on  the  treacherous  coast  of 
Newfoundland,  when  on  her  way  from  England  to  the  United 
States.  The  story  is  a  strong  one  all  through,  with  a  mystery 
that  grips,  plenty  of  excitement  and  action,  and  the  author 
presents  life  in  the  open  in  all  its  strength  and  vigor.  Mr. 
Roberts  is  one  of  the  younger  writers  whom  the  critics  have 
been  watching  with  interest.  In  "  The  Harbor  Master  "  he 
has  surely  arrived. 

* 

Of  Mr.  Roberts'  previous  books  the  critics  have  written  as  fol 
lows: 

"  The  action  is  always  swift  and  romantic  and  the  love  is  of  the  kind  that 
thrills  the  reader.  The  characters  are  admirably  drawn  and  the  reader  fol 
lows  with  deep  interest  the  adventures  of  the  two  young  people."  —  Balti 
more  Sun. 

"  Mr.  Roberts'  pen  has  lost  none  of  its  cunning,  while  his  style  is  easier 
and  breezier  than  ever."  —  Bufalo  Express. 

"  It  is  a  romance  of  clean,  warm-hearted  devotion  to  friends  and  duty. 
The  characters  are  admirable  each  in  his  own  or  her  own  way,  and  the  author 
has  made  each  fit  the  case  in  excellent  fashion."  —  Salt  Lake  City  Tribune. 

"  In  this  book  Mr.  Roberts  has  well  maintained  his  reputation  for  the 
vivid  coloring  of  his  descriptive  pictures,  which  are  full  of  stirring  action, 
and  in  which  love  and  fighting  hold  chief  place."  —  Boston  Times. 

"  Its  ease  of  style,  its  rapidity,  its  interest  from  page  to  page,  are  admi 
rable;  and  it  shows  that  inimitable  power  —  the  story-teller's  gift  of  veri 
similitude.  Its  sureness  and  clearness  are  excellent,  and  its  portraiture  clear 
and  pleasing."  —  The  Reader. 


THE    BLOSSOM    SHOP 

^g       A  Story  of  the  North  and  South       §TC 


E.  Y.  Jttullins 


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ONE  of  those  exquisitely  simple  and  appealing  stories  of 
mother  love  and  sacrifice  for  a  little  blind  daughter,  written 
in  a  delightful  vein,  combining  humor  and  pathos.  The 
reader  will  love  little  blind  Eugene  (the  child  had  received 
the  name  of  her  dead  father)  and  will  rejoice  with  the  brave 
young  mother,  the  heroine  of  the  story,  when  the  child's 
sight  is  restored.  There  is  a  time  for  rejoicing,  too,  when 
a  lost  will  is  found,  bringing  wealth  and  release  from  all 
worries,  and  the  young  mother  is  free  to  accept  the  love  and 
protection  that  in  her  sorrow  she  denied  herself. 

Southern  types  are  amusingly  contrasted  with  those  of  the 
North ;  and  the  simple  language  and  fine  sentiment  of  the 
story  will  charm  readers  of  all  ages. 


Reduced  Frontispiece 

from 
THE  CAREER  OF  <DR.    WEAVER 


"  This  graphic  portrayal  of  the  many  problems  and 
temptations  of  the  medical  profession  makes  a  story  thai 
is  strong  and  convincing." —  The  Reader. 


J&SSSSSKSS&8H  LIBRARY  FACI 


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specialist,  and  head  of  a  prim  •         "  th  in 

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botfc  men. 


PUBLISHED  BY 


L.   C. 
53  Beacon  Street  Boston,  J 

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